Sibu Tales : Confinment Side Effects

The current Movement Control Order gave my aunt and I plenty of opportunities to talk about the olden days and a good topic we touched on was the traditional confinement. There were many sub topics we can discuss too.

The Chinese women have by tradition to undergo a full month's confinement, which means they have to stay in their room, eat all the meals in the room and if possible just stay in the room, for the full 30 days of a month.

A good family would not even allow her to bathe the new born baby as a "confinement" woman would be engaged to do all the supporting work, e.g. washing the new mother and baby's cothes, cook for the new mother all the special food the family can afford, and look after the baby day and night.

So literally the new mother would just eat, sleep, rest, nurse the baby (if she decided to breast feed the baby) and literally be confined in her room.

I drank many bottles of DOM for great mental health

The main idea during the ancient days was to replenish her health for the 9 month pregnancy would have worn her out, so she needed the rest. And indeed this would be the only time for her to rest and relax for after the confinement she would have to carry out her household chores as wife, daughter in law, mother and generally, a woman of the household.

However there might be side effects of a confinement. The modern women and doctors would understand the issues of postpartum depression. In those days, many new mothers did not and could not get any help at all regarding mental health. It was not something they could even verbalize.

One story in Sibu was a woman who ate too much of ginger and wine that she ended up with a slight brain damage. After the confinement she had to be treated in the Lau King Howe Hospital by the psychiatrist and she was deemed not treatable. The pitiful woman was thus the village "crazy" woman for the rest of her life. Luckily her husband was a good man, who did not take another wife, but instead took everything in his stride and looked after the baby until she was old enough to get married and both husband and wife lived quite long and peaceful lives.

There was another case of a woman who went a bit cranky due to probably too much wine too and she tried to commit suicide twice. But after giving birth to a second child several years later, somehow she got better. Probably the second confinment helped her and the women of the household did contribute to her better mental health by being supportive and understanding.

A third story was related to me not too long ago. so it must be quite true. The new mother felt very hot and she decided just to wear her shorts that day, against the advice of her mother in law. She too opened the window just a little bit. Unfortunately a strong and cold wind blew that day. She felt cold at her knees. After the confinement was over she felt that her knees were wobbly and she could not stand up for a long time. She had an early setting in of oesteoathritis of her knees. She was only in her thirties.

There are many such Foochow stories related to confinement, and not documented at all.