What are the dietary taboos during confinement?

In fact, after watching people around me during confinement and my own experience over the years, there are only three types of dietary taboos that really need to be strictly followed - all foods containing alcohol, raw/half-cooked foods that are not thoroughly cooked, and excessive amounts of high sugar, oil and salt. The rest of the "no cold food, no fruits, no seasonings, no vegetables" that are spread online are mostly controversial individual issues and are not iron rules that everyone must abide by.

Last year, I accompanied my sister to a postpartum check-up, and I met a mother squatting in the corridor wiping her tears. She said that she had been constipated for almost 20 days, and Kaisellu was not working. When I asked her, I found out that her mother-in-law said that she should not get cold during the confinement period, and that all fruits were not allowed to be touched. Every meal consisted of egg and millet porridge with greasy chicken soup. The doctor laughed on the spot and said that apples, oranges and strawberries at room temperature can be eaten after being washed and eaten. As long as they are not something like popsicles that are just taken out of the freezer and chewed with ice that makes your teeth chatter, it will not hurt your stomach at all. After she returned home, she ate a steamed apple and half a bunch of grapes every day, and she was fine in less than three days.

Speaking of which, many of the old rules were made up of the living conditions in the past. Decades ago, there was no heating or constant temperature to keep fresh. Fruits in winter were frozen hard outside, and the well water was bone-chilling. At that time, mothers who had just given birth had weak Qi and blood, and eating frozen food was indeed prone to gastrointestinal cramps and upset stomachs. Gradually, it became popular that "you cannot eat anything that is cold." Now it is over 20 degrees at home, and fruits are still lukewarm if left on the table for half a day. Is there any other "cold" problem? If you have a delicate stomach, you can just soak the fruit in warm water for two minutes before eating it. There is no need to completely avoid eating it. On the contrary, it will lead to constipation due to lack of vitamins and a depressed mood.

There are also widely circulated sayings "Don't eat salt" and "Don't touch pepper and aniseed", which are said to restore breast milk. In fact, if you ask a regular obstetrician or nutritionist, they will say that there is no problem at all with the normal amount of salt. If you don't eat salt at all, the mother will sweat so much after giving birth, and the electrolytes in the body will be lost quickly. Within two days, my whole body became weak and I couldn't stand upright. My distant cousin believed in the salt-free theory and ate bland salt-free pig's trotter soup for a week. She fainted when she got up with the child in her arms. She hit her forehead on the bedside table and made a small cut. She was scolded by the doctor before she dared to add salt normally. As for the seasonings, it really depends on the person. My bestie from Hunan is very spicy. She couldn't help but eat two bites of slightly spicy fried pork during confinement. Her milk supply was not affected at all, and the baby didn't get a rash. However, my colleague in the same department said that she took a sip of pork ribs soup with star anise, and her milk decreased by half that day. There is no unified standard for this kind of individual difference. You can eat it if you don't feel uncomfortable after eating it, and your baby has no abnormalities. If you really have a reaction after eating it, just avoid it next time.

The only thing I want to remind you is that you really shouldn’t touch any food containing alcohol. It’s a long-standing misunderstanding that fermented glutinous rice is used to induce lactation, and chicken boiled with rice wine is good for the body. No matter how long you cook it, alcohol will remain, and it will enter the baby’s body through the milk and affect the development of the nervous system. This is a taboo recognized by the world’s nutritional community, so don’t try it blindly. There are also raw fish slices, soft-boiled eggs, and unwashed raw vegetables, which inherently carry the risk of parasites and pathogenic bacteria. Maternal immunity is lower than that of ordinary people. She cannot take medicine casually if she suffers from vomiting and diarrhea. It may also affect breastfeeding. It is best to avoid these completely.

In fact, there are so many rigid rules when it comes to eating during confinement. It’s just about eating a nutritionally balanced meal that is comfortable for you and the baby has no adverse reactions. Don’t be bound by all the taboos. Even if you want to eat an apple, you have to be secretive. On the contrary, a bad mood will affect the postpartum recovery, so you can’t do it.