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Mom-To-Be Checklist: Must- Buy Herbs During Confinement
As an expecting mum, there is a lot to prepare to welcome your little one. While you are preparing essentials for your little one, do not forget about the items you need for recovery too. A mum’s body should also be taken care of after giving birth. When it comes to traditional confinement care, the usage of herbs is a main element that helps you with your postpartum recovery. Herbs are not only used in your confinement dishes, but also your confinement beverages and confinement bath. You might be confused about what to buy for confinement herbs, especially if you are a first-time mum. Below, we have listed some of the most important herbs for you.
Confinement Beverage
When we talk about confinement beverages, red dates tea is pretty much an essential during the confinement period. The herbs that you need to prepare this nourishing drink includes:
- Red dates
- Black dates
- Dried longan
- Wolfberries
- Dang Shen
Many mothers opt for red dates tea as a replacement of water to keep the womb warm. Some moms prefer to avoid cold water as it may cause water retention. A mum needs a lot of energy and nutrition for the recovery of the body. Red dates tea helps to improve blood circulation. This leads to the improvement of body energy, also known as “qi”, and improves the immune system.
Within the confinement period, we advise mum to make it a habit to drink red dates tea instead of cold water. In terms of nutrition, red dates tea is rich in vitamin C, which helps your body to form more collagen to speed up your genital and caesarean wound recovery, as well as helps to lower your breastfed baby’s risk of developing allergies.
Herbal Soups
There is a long list of Chinese herbs to buy during confinement to make herbal soup. However, a lot of mums might not know what herbs to buy to make herbal soups. Don’t worry, you have come to the right place. The common herbs used in Chinese confinement herbal soups include:
- Eucommia
- Ligusticum
- Red Dates
- Dang Shen
- Wolfberries
- Chinese Yam
- Polygonatum
- Dang Gui
- Dried Longan
- Bei Qi
If you find it a hassle to figure out the combination and amount of herbs you need for different kinds of herbal soups, there are a lot of confinement soup packages or pre packed confinement herbs available in the market to make your life easier.
During the confinement period, you need a balanced and nourishing diet for recovery of the body and to produce milk for the baby. Generally, the main benefits of herbal soup are to strengthen mum’s body, improve blood circulation, and at the same time increase the breast milk by improving hydration.
During confinement, mum needs to consume different herbal soups according to the period and body condition for the best effects. We highly encourage mum to include various herbal soups in meals during the confinement.
Confinement Herbal Bath
Another must-buy herb is the herbs that you need for your confinement herbal bath. Generally, the herbs you need for a warming and relaxing confinement herbal bath are:
- Ginger
- Blumea balsamifera (da feng ai / sembong)
- Lemongrass
- Chinese chaste tree
You might have heard or been told to not bathe during the confinement period, but this might not be ideal if you live in a humid place like Singapore. We need to keep our body clean even after giving birth. However, we should avoid bathing with cold water during confinement.
Herbal bath confinement helps to expel wind, relieve tension and stress, and ease birth pain. For your convenience, there are also herbs for confinement bath available in ready-packed or pre-packed form in the market. And it can be easily prepared with just 2 steps. First, boil the herbs and then mix with the bathing water. Due to the simple preparation steps, you are encouraged to regularly have a confinement herbal bath as it can also help with your recovery stress relief.
You May Also Read this : An Introduction To Confinement Practices In Singapore
All in all, in moderation, herbs can help to strengthen your body and improve the recovery after giving birth. For the best result, you should consume or use the right herbs for different purposes.
At Tian Wei Signature, we serve fusion and traditional confinement dishes to help you with recovery and lactation. Our traditional Chinese meals incorporate various Chinese herbs and nutritious ingredients, and each traditional meal is also served with a nourishing bowl of herbal soup, along with 1 litre of red dates tea in every meal.
Delivering well-balanced meals straight to your doorstep during lunch and dinner daily, your herbal soups and red dates tea will be served in thermal flasks to preserve its warmth and freshness. If you are interested to learn more about our confinement food service, you can view our full menu on our website now. Looking forward to serving you soon!