What are the dietary taboos during confinement?

Foods that you are clearly allergic to, all alcoholic foods and drinks, meat, eggs, milk, and aquatic products that are not fully cooked. The remaining so-called taboos all depend on your personal constitution and actual reactions. There is no unified standard at all.

Don't believe the saying that "chicken boiled with wine during confinement will release milk". I met a mother during a follow-up visit at the obstetrics department. She drank chicken cooked with Hakka wine for three days. As a result, her baby fell asleep for two days. After a checkup, it was discovered that the alcohol in the milk affected the baby's nerves. Even if you boil the wine, it is impossible to completely evaporate the alcohol. This is clearly not recommended by the medical community, and there is nothing controversial about it. There are also things like sashimi and soft-boiled eggs, which may be fine if you eat them on a regular basis. During the confinement period, your immunity is lower than that of ordinary people. If you are infected with salmonella or parasites, taking medicine and breastfeeding will be affected. There is no need to take this risk.

As for whether we can eat cold food, whether we can eat spicy food, and whether we can eat salt, which everyone is arguing the most about, it’s really like honey to one and arsenic to another. Last year, I accompanied my sister for a postpartum check-up, and I met a mother from Sichuan and Chongqing who said that her mother-in-law made her boiled vegetables every day without adding any chili peppers. She cried every day while eating. Later, she secretly ordered a mildly spicy pea mixed noodles. After eating it, she was fine. The baby did not develop eczema or diarrhea. Instead, she was in a good mood and her milk supply increased. But if you have a weak stomach, you will have diarrhea for a long time if you eat ice cream before pregnancy. Don't try to drink iced fruits during the confinement period. If you eat them at room temperature and you feel uncomfortable, there is nothing wrong with eating them when they are steamed and heated.

I heard a saying before that you can’t eat any salt during the postpartum period, otherwise you will get edema and your breast milk will return. My best friend believed this at first. After drinking salt-free pork rib soup for a week, she was so weak that she couldn’t stand. When she went for a review, the doctor directly said that she had electrolyte imbalance. Chaos, if you don’t eat salt, you will be hospitalized. In fact, during the confinement period, you will have a lot of puerperal sweat and lose salt quickly. As long as the taste is a little lighter than usual, and you don’t eat high-salt foods such as pickles and bacon, it will be perfectly fine. Not eating a little salt will really harm your body.

Also, it is said that leeks, malt, and celery are foods that can restore breast milk. When I was breastfeeding, I was greedy and ate two meals of leek boxes, and the amount of milk was not reduced at all. Later, I asked my friends in the nutrition department to find out that these foods must be eaten in large enough quantities to have the effect of restoring breast milk. Adding a few leeks to normal cooking, or occasionally drinking a sip of barley tea, will not reach the effective dose at all, so there is no need to worry.

When talking with my friends who have been in confinement, they all think that the most useless thing is all kinds of strange dietary taboos. After giving birth, hormones fluctuate greatly. You are not allowed to eat this and that is not allowed to touch every day. If you can't get a bite of what you want, it is easy to hold back your mood. As long as you avoid those foods that are clearly harmful to you and your baby, and eat the rest however you feel comfortable, your body will recover faster if you eat happily, which is better than anything else.