Postpartum confinement Puns

I am sure some of us have heard about the 'no showering/washing hair for 1 month', 'must have ginger in every meal' and 'must wear long sleeves and sock with all windows closed in the house to prevent from wind drafts entering the house' from some of our friends or even from your in-laws/parents.

If you think of it, not showering for 1 month is terrible, not practical and unhygienic, considering Singapore's hot and humid climate.

We often hear elders mention that if one break the confinement rules, it will result in problems during old age such as chronic headaches and arthritis. Do mothers adhere to these traditional practices due to the fear of consequences and elder's influence? In this day and age, does anyone know how much truth lies in these practices?

Created this post as I am genuinely curious about how people view postpartum confinement practices nowadays and if it is still widely practiced.

Also known as "sitting the month" or "yuezi". Do you think it helped you recover? What was it like?

So we just paid a deposit to stay at a confinement center once I deliver next year! Looking forward to it hopefully

For those not familiar, for Chinese (and other Asian ethnicities), the time after giving birth is very critical and its very important for you to rest to heal so that's considered the "confinement" period (about 1 month)

In very traditional families, there's alot of practices that you can and cannot do but these days, it may not be strict as compared to our parents time (but it's very dependent on your parents/in laws if they strictly follow them and force you to follow).

In Malaysia, there's an optional to have a confinement lady where they live with you for that month or go to a confinement centre. For both options, they focus on taking care of the baby for you while second focus will be taking care of you (eg preparing confinement related meals for your nourishment)

For the confinement ladies, they are usually strict and follow the confinement rules (for some, if you don't follow as they say they can get quite naggy 🤣)

For the confinement centres (depending on the centre), they are more modern where some have a home / hotel concept, have activities/classes, postnatal massages etc

Which makes me curious, what are the practices for your family/your culture/country once you deliver?

Some background info, me (30f) and husband (30m) live with his parents. The house is my FIL’s but my husband pays the mortgage, majority of the bills, household costs and supports his father financially (making car payments, repaying loans). In our culture it is common for the son to live with and financially support the parents. We discussed this fully before marriage and it’s something I was willing to accept.

Onto the issue, my husband has 3 sisters. His eldest sister comes and stays 6 times a year for a week at a time (all the school holidays) with her 3 children under 5 years of age. During this time the expectation is that we will all cook, clean and help her look after the kids so her husband can have a ‘break’, something he openly gloats about on SM.

My in laws have always said this is our house and we should feel comfortable here but it feels like we have no say. They say my husband will inherit the house and he is responsible for its upkeep and renovations.

I’m honestly exhausted, I feel confined to my bedroom whenever she is here as it is impossible to navigate the common areas (kitchen, living room) which are in constant mess and chaos. This has been going on for the last 5 years since I moved in. It’s hard to discipline the children, they constantly play up and are very loud (I can hear them 3 floors up). We recently had a baby and she came and stayed with the kids both when I was 2 weeks postpartum and now again 1 month later.

The problem is that my in laws want my SIL to come and stay. They get offended if we suggest a shorter stay or she misses a holiday. It’s been so bad that in my first trimester I’ve had to go and stay with my sister because I wasn’t comfortable with the risks around Covid and them coming to stay. My IL’s preferred me leaving for the week to asking their daughter not to come. My husband has bought this up with his parents several times but they will not budge. In the past when he’s addressed these kinds of issues directly with his sisters they say it’s ‘their parents house’ and they will come and go as they please so talking to them is not an option.

We also know that if we try to leave now and get our own place his parents won’t be able to cope financially. They would also lay on the guilt trips and his would damage our relationship with them forever.

So AITA for expecting some kind of priority in my FIL’s house and not wanting my SIL to come and stay?

I saw that in many cultures there’s a tradition that for 40 days after birth, you’re supposed to stay in bed majority of time with baby to help bond with him and let your body recover from birth. You’re not supposed to go outside, do chores, wash your hair etc and have to follow strict diet. Did some of you follow this tradition, maybe in a « modern » way ? How did it feel for you ?

Do your worst!

I'm surprised it hasn't decade.

Hi all. First time post/rant. I'm not sure if this is even the correct sub for this, but someone just really pushed my buttons today...

I have a 4 month old. I took my 12 weeks unpaid maternity leave that I had to aggressively save for + use a short term disability policy (which I paid for) + hospital confinement policy (which I paid for). I had coworkers text me multiple times during my maternity leave and to say it pissed me the fuck off is an understatement. I get 12 WEEKS AND THAT IS ALL to bond with a new baby. I should not be working or worrying about working. I struggled with breastfeeding/latching, I struggled with sleep deprivation, I struggled with not knowing what the actual fuck I was doing, I struggled with PPD/rage. I struggled. I am still struggling. Caring for an infant is not easy.

Anyway. What really pissed me off today was someone I am friends with on facebook (ugh). She is a "mompreneur" and a "mom boss" and a "girl boss" and is "growing her business" (yes she was in a pyramid scheme for many years so all of this lingo is straight from their playbook). She is endlessly posting bullshit about how she eats only organic, her toddler eats only organic, you know the type. She is a hella-privileged woman full of toxic positivity, constantly posting about how if you're sad or not motivated it must be because you aren't working out or eating organic. But what really got me today specifically was that she posted about how she is such a girl boss and mompreneur that she was responding to emails and doing work between breastfeeding sessions. She went on about how she "chooses her hard" and how she "is an example for all working women out there." BITCH PLEASE. ARE YOU KIDDING ME. NO ONE SHOULD HAVE TO BE WORKING BETWEEN BREASTFEEDING A 3 WEEK OLD BABY. We are in the US where families are already treated like shit and we barely get 3 months to bond with our infant (if we can afford to even take 12 weeks unpaid!!), and here you are implying that we should be working between breastfeeding and being 3 weeks postpartum. Because, you know. Girl Boss. Grow your business. She gets bonus asshole points because her husband literally financially supports her and "invested" in her new business venture. I just. I can't.

Okay this is getting long and rambly. But I was just fucking TRIGGERED today. Thank you for coming to my incoherent Ted Talk.

Original "plan": let bub cook as long as he wants up to 41 weeks, then induce if still looking too cozy in there.

New plan: mom's blood pressure high on Wed AM (37 + 5), 140/90ish? High enough that they give me two options: 1) induce immediately that day or 2) 24-hr urine collection + blood draw for lab tests + come in for NST on Fri, Mon, Thurs. DH wasn't even at the appt with me to help make the decision! We'd had an ultrasound to check on bub earlier that same day since he was continuing to measure a bit small, and DH had been at that appt. But since the ultrasound tech didn't seem worried over anything, we figured it was fine for DH to go back to work and skip the second appointment.

I HIGHLY recommend having both partners at every single appointment in the final weeks so you don't end up needing to make a split-second, huge, stressful decision like this on your own! Anyway—since I am feeling great and bub is showing no signs of distress, I feel fairly confident in my decision to test / wait for data to make a more informed decision. I also reallly wanted to avoid an induction since I knew it would immediately make the birth a more medicalized event with automatic IV, miso / pitocin, more frequent monitoring, etc...

Friday AM: Blood pressure still high. Cervical check = no dilation (I think, or maybe 1" at the most?) and estimated 50-60% effaced. We are strongly advised to induce at hospital that afternoon / evening. Mom and dad were prepared this time—brought "go" bags to the OBGYN appt just in case, though we (perhaps naively) thought the chance of heading in to hospital that day was in, like, single digits... ah well! We have just enough time to run home, grab a few more things, and drop quickly by grandparents-to-be house to give them hugs and reassure them I'm fine before heading to the hospital.

FRIDAY, Day #1

2 different nurses on Friday, both lovely people!

3:30 pm - we check into labor & delivery for "scheduled" induction (as of 1.5 hours ago!!) and get settled into the room. The room is nice and big, which is awesome as I was afraid of feeling claustrophobic / crowded when things get busy towards the end.

4:30 pm - 1st dose misoprostrol, 20ml, to ripen cervix. All miso doses they give me are taken orally from large syringes I just squirt into my mouth and swallow.

5:30 pm - 2nd dose 20ml miso; feel some stomach tightening but no painful contractions. I realize that I've probably been feeling these painless contractions for

For context I'm a Refuse Driver (Garbage man) & today I was on food waste. After I'd tipped I was checking the wagon for any defects when I spotted a lone pea balanced on the lifts.

I said "hey look, an escaPEA"

No one near me but it didn't half make me laugh for a good hour or so!

Edit: I can't believe how much this has blown up. Thank you everyone I've had a blast reading through the replies 😂

It really does, I swear!

Buenosdillas

They’re on standbi

Pilot on me!!

Dad jokes are supposed to be jokes you can tell a kid and they will understand it and find it funny.

This sub is mostly just NSFW puns now.

If it needs a NSFW tag it's not a dad joke. There should just be a NSFW puns subreddit for that.

Edit* I'm not replying any longer and turning off notifications but to all those that say "no one cares", there sure are a lot of you arguing about it. Maybe I'm wrong but you people don't need to be rude about it. If you really don't care, don't comment.

When I got home, they were still there.

I won't be doing that today!

You take away their little brooms

This morning, my 4 year old daughter.

Daughter: I'm hungry

Me: nerves building, smile widening

Me: Hi hungry, I'm dad.

She had no idea what was going on but I finally did it.

Thank you all for listening.

There hasn't been a post all year!

[Removed]

Why

It’s pronounced “Noel.”

After all his first name is No-vac

What, then, is Chinese rap?

Edit:

Notable mentions from the comments:

• Spanish/Swedish/Swiss/Serbian hits

• French/Finnish art

• Country/Canadian rap

• Chinese/Country/Canadian rock

• Turkish/Tunisian/Taiwanese rap

There hasn't been a single post this year!

(Happy 2022 from New Zealand)

Nothing, it just waved

What did 0 say to 8 ?

" Nice Belt "

So What did 3 say to 8 ?

" Hey, you two stop making out "