A month of sitting

Tan Jiabin (left), a dietitian at the Shanghai First Maternity and Infant Hospital, gives suggestions to Mizuhara Chie, 40, who is five months pregnant.

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AFTER childbirth, TCM prescribes a strict 30-day regimen for postpartum recovery known as yue zi (sitting for a month) involving total rest and nutritious food. Once it was like imprisonment with your mother-in-law, but today it's more relaxed. Zhang Qian reports.

Mizuhara Chie, 40 years old, is 21 weeks pregnant. Apart from reading books about pregnancy and child care, this mother-to-be has started studying the ancient tradition of zuo yue zi, postpartum recovery in the first month after giving birth.

She disregards the ancient prohibitions against bathing, brushing teeth, washing hair, touching water, eating fruits and vegetables, and reading (today it would be TV and computers).

But she plans to retain its essence of total rest, no drafts, no stress, no picking up baby (someone else hands it to her, lest she permanently injure her back) and rich dietary reinforcement, no cold (temperature or yin energy) foods.

Maybe, too, she will cover her head, to be on the safe side, so no pathogenic yin (cold) energy can invade her very vulnerable system.

Strict zuo yue zi, literally "sitting for a month," involves total bedrest, never going outdoors, and eating nourishing mostly yang (hot energy) foods to regain health and energy.

According to traditional Chinese medicine, this period lasts for one month, a moon cycle, hence the name yue zi (month).

Ancient wisdom and old wives' tales

Some Chinese hospitals and private clinics are offering recovery education and services for mothers-to be. There are even expensive, hotel-like yue zi retreats.

Shanghai Mother and Baby Health Promoting Center attached to Shanghai First Maternity and Infant Hospital provides special services for the new mothers throughout the whole pregnant period and after childbirth.

There is special body massage for the mothers to promote milk secretion, which is usually recommended at the 12th hour after natural delivery or 48th hour after Caesarean birth.

Most women stay home, however, and hire an ayi skilled in mother and child care.

Many young mothers these days shower and attend to personal hygiene before conservative mother or mother-in-law come to visit. But these days modern TCM strongly recommends good hygiene and gentle exercise.

During childbirth a woman loses a lot of blood and yang (hot) energy, so postpartum she is deficient in yang energy and has too much yin (cold), according to TCM.

Yue zi is a crucially important period for a woman's health ¨? make or break, it is said ¨? and most of the older generation firmly believes that numerous prohibitions must be observed, certain foods must be eaten, some avoided.

Most women do get lots of bed rest, avoid drafts (invasion of pathogenic cold energy) and eat lots of eggs (nutritious and symbolic since they just gave birth), chicken, meat and fish soups. Brown sugar and ginger are musts.

It is said to be a time for tuo tai huan gu (taking out the fetus and changing the bones), meaning a complete change for a woman.

Traditions say that a good yue zi helps a woman achieve good health, though she may have been weak or ill before pregnancy, while a bad yue zi can destroy her health, no matter how healthy she used to be.

There are reasons behind all the prohibitions: bathing and getting chilled can cause permanent problems for women, including all kinds of hygiene and contact with water. The reason: They are vulnerable.

Hair washing is said to cause headaches, and brushing teeth is said to loosen teeth. Any bathing is said to leave the body vulnerable to chill and pathogenic cold that can damage the entire system. Reading or watching TV strains the eyes permanently, crying permanently undermines vision.

"It was like a month of imprisonment," says Luning Wang, a 56-year-old woman recalling her yue zi. She still remembers peeking at the most popular TV series "The Bund" in her yue zi more than 20 years ago.

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