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Eating the right foods during confinement helps new mothers replenish their qi (energy) and blood, and recover their strength. Chen Fang, traditional Chinese medicine physician from Thomson Chinese Medicine (#01-346, Balestier Hill Shopping Centre, Blk 1 Thomson Road, www.thomsonchinesemedicine.com) shares tips on what to eat and drink for your postnatal recuperation.
TIP: It’s all about balance
Postnatal mothers are advised to take more ‘warming’ foods, but take note of your constitution and adjust your diet accordingly. For example, if you are lacking in yin, which means your constitution tends to be yin deficient, you may feel hot, sweat more, or get thirsty more often. This may exhaust your body, which may affect your breast milk production, as you may lose more fluid through perspiration. It is recommended that mothers consult TCM physicians for advice after their delivery.
Take this herbal formula in the first week after delivery to expel remnant blood and tissues from the uterus. Literally ‘generation and transformation decoction’, sheng hua tang stimulates blood flow. It includes herbs like pao jiang (baked ginger), chuan xiong (Szechuan lovage rhizome), tao ren (peach kernel), dang gui (Chinese angelica root) and gan cao (licorice root). You can buy the herbs from a Chinese medicinal hall, or go for ready-to-cook sheng hua tang powder available from TCM clinics.
Hormones, stress and fatigue during pregnancy can upset your digestive system, causing constipation and indigestion, says Chen Fang. After delivery, as your digestive system begins to revert to normal, you may also find that you are belching more and your tummy is bloated.
To get rid of the ‘wind’, start your confinement diet with light and non-oily food like soups and porridge, which are easy to digest, advises Chen Fang. Use ginger to purge the ‘wind’ and replenish qi. When cooked with sesame oil or added to red date and longan tea, ginger also improves your stomach function, aids digestion, and warms the uterus.
Your body begins to cool down after delivery. Nourish yourself with a balanced diet consisting of carbohydrates, proteins, fats, vitamins and minerals. Most types of fruit and vegetables are fine, says Chen Fang, but skip ‘cooling’ ones, like watermelon, pear, coconut, and winter melon, bitter gourd, and old cucumber. Herbal tea, chrysanthemum tea and green tea are no-nos. Cook ingredients in sesame oil, which warms your body. “Sesame oil is also good for nourishing your organs and boosting your vitality,” says Chen Fang.
Herbs like huang qi (astragalus root), dang shen (codonopsis), dang gui (Chinese angelica root), red dates and wolfberries are good for tonifying, or replenishing, energy and blood. These herbs can be added to soups. Include bai zhu (white atractylodes) and sha ren (black cardamom) to improve your digestive system. “If you can digest well and absorb nutrition better, your qi and blood will naturally improve,” says Chen Fang.
Tonic wines contain herbs like dang gui, rou gui (cinnamon) and yin yang huo (epimedium). These help boost energy, regenerate blood, and promote blood circulation. But Chen Fang cautions breastfeeding mothers against direct alcohol intake as alcohol can cross into their breast milk. “It is recommended that they add tonic wine to their food, but be sure to cook it well to let the alcohol evaporate. Soups with tonic wine should be boiled for at least five to ten minutes,” she says.
Protein is a main component in breast milk. Nursing mothers need to eat more chicken, mutton, pork and fish to ensure adequate protein in their milk. Protein also helps to repair wounds.
Pork trotters cooked in black vinegar is recommended for postnatal mothers, says Chen Fang. Pig trotters are high in protein, and vinegar helps to release calcium from them. But take such oily food only from the second week of confinement onwards, she advises.
Fish, such as sheng yu (snakehead), is rich in protein that helps to repair wounds. But Chen Fang advises mothers who have had a Caesarean delivery to start eating sheng yu only from the third week of confinement. “We want to let the wound heal naturally and not too fast. Or the mother may develop keloid on her wound,” she says, referring to the raised red scars that form due to excessive healing of skin wounds.