Showing posts with label Confinement Period. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Confinement Period. Show all posts

Monday, 17 December 2012

Guide in Making Red Date Teas

Red date teas has been a mandatory drink during Chinese confinement period for health reason. And red dates is considered the healthiest fruit on earth. My mum guided me on how to make a simple red date tea for my wife and my wife like the taste. Below are the guide in making a simple red date teas.

We bought the ingredient 1 month before my wife is about to deliver and chose Eu Yan Sang because of the trusted brand. Furthermore, Eu Yan Sang has ensure there is no sulphur in the red dates. If there are sulphur, the red date taste will be bitter.

Ingredient
Black Date
200 gm = RM 6
Red Date
500 gm = RM 28
Dry Longan
500 gm = RM 35

Wolfberry Fruit
500 gm = RM 40

Codonopsis Root
1 packet = RM 60

Chinese Yam
1 packet = RM 10.80

Recipe A
Step 1: Take 7 red dates and 7 black dates out.

Step 2: Take out the seeds in the red dates and black dates
At below picture, the right side is the seeds that has been removed using the kitchen knife.
Warning: The black date's seed is difficult to remove and remove with caution especially using kitchen knife to remove the seeds.

Step 3: Put the ingredient into the slow cooker and put 2 liter of water

Step 4: Start the slow cooker to get red date tea
High settings take 2 hours to boil the red date tea
Low settings take an overnight to boil the red date tea
Once the water start boiling, then the red date tea is ready.

Step 5: Done...
      

Recipe B
My wife start to drink recipe B after day 5 delivery, and drank once every 2 days.
The step to make the tea are the same as per Recipe A, but the ingredient are:
Red Date x 5
Black Date x 8
Dry Longan x 5

Recipe C
My wife start to drink recipe C after day 7 delivery, and drank once every day.
The step to make the tea are the same as per Recipe A, but the ingredient are:
Red Date x 5
Black Date x 9
Chinese Yam x 14
Wolfberry x 7
Cordonopsis Root x 1


Recipe D
My wife start to drink recipe D after day 10 delivery and drank everyday.
The step to make the tea are the same as per Recipe A, but the ingredient are:
Red Date x 8
Black Date x 8
Dry Longan x 8
Wolfberry x 10
Cordonopsis Root x 1


Note:
1) In my case, I'll filter the ingredient and pour the 2 liter of red date tea to a flask and boil another round 2 liter red date tea. Once my wife finish the red date tea in the flask, then I'll filter the ingredient and pour the another set to the flask and continue to boil another round of 2 liter red date tea. With this mechanism, my wife will have a continuous supply of red date tea.
2) Add more longan to have sweet taste
3) To clean Cordonopsis Root, we can use used tooth brush to brush off the dirt.


Warning:
There is a high possibility to get constipation if put too much red date.

Resources:
http://www.theworldofchinese.com/2012/03/red-dates-the-healthiest-fruit-on-earth/

Saturday, 8 December 2012

Full Moon Gift Pack

A full moon ceremony is held to celebrate baby's first month of life according to Chinese custom. Usually eggs dyed in red  and red tortoise cake (ang ku kueh) with other food are given to relatives and friends as part of the celebrations.

In modern world, relatives, friends and colleagues give red packet that contains money or present for baby. In return, the parents would give in the following method:
1) Organize buffet catering for friends and family at a location
2) Get full moon food package and distribute to friends and family
3) Get gift voucher and distribute to friends and family
The KFC, Pizza Hut, RasaMas gift voucher can be bought at http://myonlinevoucher.com.my

Below are the list of food vendor in Klang Valley (Malaysia) that offer full moon package:

Restaurant Delivery? Catering? Cheapest Gift Pack with Chicken
(Preferably curry chicken)
Contacts
Ayamas Y Y

http://www.kedaiayamas.com.my/delivery/fullmoon.html
Contact: 1300-88-2323


Chicken Rice Shop Y Call to Confirm

http://www.thechickenriceshop.com
Click here for the fullmoon menu
Contact: Please refer to the Chicken Rice Shop in the website
Delight's Full Moon Y Call to Confirm

http://www.delightsfullmoon.com
Contact:
KL/Klang: 012-223 3516 / 016-369 2773
PJ/Subang: 017-329 9077
Puchong: 016-285 4708
Kepong: 017-510 0366
Cheras: 016-220 1805


H & H Y Y
Buy 10, Free 1

http://www.hnhcatering.com/fullmoon.htm
Contact: 03-7880 2606
Kenny Roger Y Y

http://www.krr.com.my/v3/catering.php?category=baby-full-moon
Contact: 03-2119 9888
Lian Bee Call to Confirm Call to Confirm

http://www.lianbee.com/products/special-occasion/fullmoon/fullmoon-sets
Contacts: 03-3290 3399
New Trendy Y Y

http://fullmoongiftpack.com.my
Contact: 03-6277 0167 / 03-6275 1062

Nyonya Restaurant Y Y

http://www.nyonya-restaurant.com/full-moon.html
Contact: 03-78759709
Nyonya Village Y Y

http://www.nyonyavillage.com/fullmoon.html
Contact: 03-7956 5293
Uniq Y Y
Buy 20, Free 1 (Delivery)
Buy 10, Free 1 (Own Collection)

http://www.uniqfullmoon.com.my
Contact: 03-8070 0686

U-Ton Call to Confirm Call to Confirm

http://www.u-ton.com
Contact: 03-9019 5626 / 016-626 5383


Friday, 16 November 2012

Getting Dry Shampoo for Confinement Period

During confinement period, my wife has been advised by parents to avoid washing the hair. The reason given are:
- Women give birth will have an open pores in the head, thus washing hair with water will cause health concern to the women at later age.
- Prevent hair loss (Based on AAD website, temporarily hair loss is due to fallen estrogen level)

One day, we've been informed that there is a product call dry shampoo which can serve the same purpose to clean the hair. We head out to Guardian pharmacy shop to look for dry shampoo, but was informed out of stocks. We went to Watson pharmacy shop instead and found the last dry shampoo bottle call "Comfy Care". Here is how it looks like and it cost RM 20.

Feel free to visit the below blog on how to use the dry shampoo.
http://soloverly.blogspot.com/2010/06/malaysian-dry-shampoo-comfy-care.html

Resources:
http://www.aad.org/skin-conditions/skin-health-tips/hair-loss-and-new-mothers

Tuesday, 6 November 2012

Getting Breast Milk Pump

This post is about the analysis and evaluation in getting a breast pump products. There are tons of breast pump products and my wife and myself are quite puzzling on what breast pump product to decide. There are cheap and expensive and it's very hard to part a hard-earned money to something which we've no clue how it works. Enjoy the reading...

Hand vs Manual Pump vs Electric Pump
First of all, there are 3 mechanism to extract the breast milk which are as per below:
Using hand method would take a very long time and tiring to express the breast milk.
Using manual pump method would take some time, and tiring too to express the breast milk.
However using electric pump method would take shorter time without much efforts.
Finally we decided to go for electric pump device.

What Brand?
The next puzzling thing in our head is to go for which brand. Upon asking lactation consultant, we've been informed that Avent and Medela brand are good. So I went to Philips showroom and ask to get a whole list of Avent products and breast pump is in the list. I was informed that Philips representative would email me about the good price as I could get corporate discount. 1 week passed, 2 week passed and still no news. So finally decided to look for other brands like Medela. We come across that many baby shops sells Medela product but kind of doubt on the warranty and Medela product is not cheap. As warranty is an important factor in our decision, therefore we drill down to Medela distributor and found out that lacta-equip is the only distributor in Malaysia. And lacta-equip provide a 1 year warranty.
Medela distributor for Malaysia link:
http://www.medela.com/IW/en/breastfeeding/about-medela/distributors.html?country=Malaysia
Lacta-Equip Website
http://www.lacta-equip.com/
Warning: If purchased Medela product from other source (e.g. ebay) which lacta-equip does not recognize, then be prepare to fork out more $$$ for repair as lacta-equip company is the only service centre for Medela products in Malaysia.

Which Model to Choose?
Finally we have decided to go for Medela brand, and the next question is which model. Medela have 3 types of electric breast pump:
Swing is a single electric breast pump that cost RM 799.
Pump In Style Advanced (PISA) can be a single or dual electric breast pump that cost RM 1,788.
Freestyle is similar to PISA but it's mobile that cost RM 2,299.

We decided to get dual electric breast pump as this provides a better mechanism for breast milk expression. However the cost is a bomb to the family budget.

Decision Time
Finally we decided to get Pump In Style Advanced at lacta-equip because:
1) Based on Amazon.com product review, we come to the conclusion that PISA is better than Freestyle because the suction power in Freestyle is weaker than PISA.
2) Lacta-equip company have promotion in selling PISA at RM 1,399
Do call up lacta-equip whether they have promotion as it's much cheaper and with warranty.

Also, do get Hands Free Breast Pump Bra that can free up the hands for multi-task purpose. The product that we got is from Simple Wishes that cost RM 132.

Try First Before Buy
Recently a friend share his experience in which a shop allows the mum to try different types of breast pump product before buying, and this is a good idea and friendly way to allow mum to experience different type of breast pump before parting hard-earned money. The shop is located at Klang and here are the website:
http://www.enjoybreastfeed.com/aboutus.php

Saturday, 25 August 2012

Confinement Period - Indian Culture

Here is a summary of confinement information on Indian Culture.
Confinement Period: 40-60 days

Do & Don't Activity
- Bath in warm water boiled with neem leaves which believed are natural antiseptic. Warm water is to soothe tired and aching muscle.
- Cover head with scarf
- Keep window closed
- Wear socks
- No air-conditioners and fans to avoid catching cold
- No reading
- No watching TV
- No shouting
- No crying
- No engaging conversation for too long
- No bending over at the waist to prevent back injuries
- No cooking or any housework
- Stay in room or confinement area in the house
- New mothers are given full body massage or maalish once a day to soothe tiring body and help blood circulations.
- New mother to massage the baby. Warning: This is dangerous to baby if done wrongly.
- Atta (dough) is rubbed over baby's forehead and body to remove accessive hair


Do & Don't Food & Drinks
- Eat warm foods
- Avoid cool food like cucumber, cabbage and pineapple. Cooling foods can cause rheumatism and athritis later in life.
- Eat gourds such as lauki and tori which are believed to increase milk supply
- Eat paan (betel leaves) after every meal
- Eat more ghee in diet to regain strength and aid muscle repair
- Avoid fruits, aerated drinks and juices
- Replace green and red chillies with black pepper
- Avoid windy foods such as onions and jackfruits can these can cause colic in baby which was passed through breastmilk.

References:
- http://www.babycenter.com.my/pregnancy/asian-postnatal-practices/indian-confinement/
- http://www.babycenter.com.my/baby/youafterthebirth/nutrition/traditional-confinement-foods/
- http://www.babycenter.in/baby/youafterthebirth/nutrition/traditional-beverages/

Confinement Products

Here are the list of Confinement package/products worth mentioning:
1) Amway Tropical Herbs Post Natal Care
http://www.amway2u.com/mall_proddet.jsp?prrfnbr=1055

2) Tanamera Pre & Postnatal Care
Cost about RM 380
http://tanamerapostnatal.com/products-page/

3) TYT Confinement Herbal Bath
http://tyt.com.my/products/tyt-confinement-herbal-bath/


Friday, 24 August 2012

Confinement Period - Malay Culture


Here is a summary of confinement information on Maly Culture.
Confinement Period: 44 days

Do & Don't Activity
- Get Bertungku for applying hot compress to dissolve residual blood clots in the uterus.

- Wear Bengkung to help new mums to get back in shape. Bengkung helps flatten stomach, shrink uterus and tighten vagina. However, it requires to wear bengkung properly as to avoid hinder uterus recovery.
- Take herbal bath:-
  * To regain energy,
  * Dispel wind,
  * Get rid of odours from lochia and discharge
  * Treat sore veins
- Get traditional postnatal massage:-
  * Improve blood circulation
  * Expel lochia which can last for 6 weeks after delivery
  * "lift" the womb and keep it from sagging
  * Break down fat
  * Tone and shape the body to help the new mum get her pre-baby body back
  * Speed up overall recovery from labour and birth
  * Stimulate milk production

Do & Don't Food & Drinks
- Take Jamu which is nutrition and dietary supplements. This is to boost energy levels, keep body warm, expel excess fat & toxins and regulate bladder movement.
- No "cold" food like fruits and vegetables
- No oily foods
- No iced water or too much water as it is believed to keep tummy swollen and harder to shrink

References:
http://www.babycenter.com.my/pregnancy/asian-postnatal-practices/malay-confinement/
http://forum.lowyat.net/topic/2350435

Confinement Period - Japanese Culture

Here is a summary of confinement information on Japanese Culture.
Confinement Period: 2-4 weeks

Do & Don't Activity
- Take sponge bath using Grated Ginger Roots to rub on mother's body as to promote healing.
- Not allow to leave home during confinement

Do & Don't Food & Drinks
- After birth, a special food Carp Fish soup and mochi is offered.
- Eat spinach and other green vegetables to help blood cloting.

References:
http://www.hawcc.hawaii.edu/nursing/RNJapanese03.html

Confinement Period - Korean Culture

Here is a summary of confinement information on Korean Culture.
Confinement Period: 21 days

Do & Don't Activity
- Rest and sleep during confinement period
- Not allowed to move too much
- Wear thick cloths to prevent wind from entering body
- Wear socks and avoid walking bare footed around home.
- Take hot shower or washing hair.
- Mother had caesarean delivery to avoid shower for the first week.

Do & Don't Food & Drinks
- Seaweed soup (Miyeok guk) is to be consume 3 times daily (Best to consume for at least 3 months).
- Avoid hard or crunchy food as to believe mother's gum is still weak after delivery

References:
http://sgmummy.com/korean-confinement/

Confinement Period - Chinese Culture

Here is a summary of confinement information on Chinese Culture.
Confinement Period: 30 - 40 days

Do & Don't Activity
- Keep mother's body warm
- Mother's room should not have fan or air-con
- Do not open windows as to prevent wind from entering body.
This is a believe that wind can cause pain in the joints when mother are old.
- Not allow to leave house at least 30 days after giving birth
- Cannot wash hair as scalp cannot catch cold
- Cannot walk around as to avoid uterine prolapse
- Cannot watch TV
- Cannot take bath
- Avoid touching water as it can lead to back pain, hands and feet numbness
- Wear long pants and long sleeve
- Wear socks & bedroom slippers
- Avoid frequent sitting as to avoid backache
- First 2 weeks, only sponge bath with warm wine water is allowed. Boil the water and rice wine in 50-50 proportion, add a little salt, and soaked with a towel, wring dry, rub the body.
- Avoid carrying baby as may result visceral ptosis. Lie on your side to feed baby.
- Avoid giving baby a bath and get confinement lady/husband/other people to help.
- Avoid carrying heavy item as to prevent visceral ptosis.
- Avoid crying as to prevent premature aging.
- Use postpartum belly band

Do & Don't Food & Drinks
- Food diet must have lots of old gingers to get rid of wind in tummy and body.
- Eat warm food only
- Take tonic soups, ginseng, "dong qui" to replenish blod lost during delivery
- Replace water with rice wine
- Drink red dates, ginger & date tea, longan & date tea throughout confinement period
- Avoid drinking water, and beverages as it will cause water retention
- Avoid cold foods like fruits, cold drinks and desserts
- Eat confinement dishes like ginger & black vinegar pig trotters, sesame oil chicken, pork liver & kidneys cooked with ginger & sesame oil, pig stomach soup, etc.
- Avoid sour food
- Avoid fish and meat for the first 2 weeks.

Warning for mummy whom breast feed baby:
- Do minimize or avoid ginger for the first 2 weeks after delivery. This is to prevent baby from getting jaundice via breast milk.
- Once consume alcohol, do wait for 2 hours before breast feeding the baby.

References:
http://chineseconfinementfood.blogspot.com/
http://incomingincomingbaby.blogspot.com/2012/10/understand-jaundice.html

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