What are the dietary taboos during confinement?

There are actually very few dietary taboos that really need to be strictly followed. Only alcoholic foods, undercooked meat, eggs and seafood, and excessive high-sugar, oily and salty foods are clearly to be avoided. Most of the other popular statements such as "cold foods cannot be touched, lactating foods cannot be eaten, and seasonings cannot be added" are highly controversial and there are no universal taboo standards.

When I was in confinement two years ago, the list of taboos given by the elders on both sides of my family was two pages long. One said I couldn’t eat fruits for fear of getting cold, and the other said I couldn’t eat salt for fear of weighing down my body. In the first week, I almost made myself depressed by eating the same. Later, when I went for a postpartum review and asked the nutritionist, I realized that many of them were "misunderstandings" passed down from generation to generation. My best friend is from the north and married to Guangdong. When she was in confinement, her mother-in-law didn’t even allow her to eat more green vegetables, saying that they were cold. She didn’t eat much green leafy vegetables for ten days, and she was constipated to the point of crying in the toilet. Later, the doctor told her to eat a pound of dark green vegetables every day. As long as they were not iced, it was okay to add ginger and garlic when stir-frying. She was relieved after eating it for two days.

The most rumored "milk-reducing foods" are even more controversial, such as leeks, malt, and hawthorn. There are two extreme examples around me. One friend has a very high milk supply and eats leek dumplings twice a week. The milk supply is not affected at all. Another friend's milk supply is not affected at all. The milk is just enough for the baby, but after drinking a cup of malt tea, the milk is much less on the same day. In this case, there is no need to cut it across the board. If your milk supply is not stable, try to avoid eating a lot of these foods. If your milk supply is always stable, it is perfectly fine to take a few bites to satisfy your cravings occasionally.

As for the foods that are clearly to be avoided, don't take any chances. For example, alcohol, whether it is rice wine to stimulate lactation or fermented eggs, even if they are cooked for a long time, there will still be residual alcohol, which will be passed to the baby through breast milk and affect the baby's brain development. This has been clearly confirmed. My neighbor drank fermented glutinous rice for half a month, and when he took the baby for a physical examination, his development was delayed. The doctor asked him to stop immediately after asking about the diet, and then he slowly caught up. There are also undercooked things, such as sashimi from Japanese restaurants, runny soft-boiled eggs, and undercooked hot pot meat. A mother’s resistance after giving birth is worse than that of ordinary people. If she is infected with Listeria or Salmonella, not only vomiting and diarrhea, but also severe effects on breastfeeding, there is really no need to take this risk.

It’s not that all the opinions of the elders are wrong. For example, many elders say not to eat too much ice. This actually makes sense. If you have a weak stomach and eat popsicles and drink iced milk tea right after giving birth, you will most likely get gastrointestinal pain and diarrhea. You should definitely avoid it, but if you usually I like to drink iced drinks. There is no need to cook fruits at room temperature before eating them. The vitamins of cooked fruits are almost destroyed, and eating them will not replenish nutrients. I was eating an orange at room temperature every day, and I never had oral ulcers again, and my baby didn’t have diarrhea or anything. In fact, eating during confinement is really not that important. The core is to have balanced nutrition and feel comfortable eating. For those taboos that you are not sure about, instead of listening to the experiences of relatives and neighbors, it is better to ask your prenatal doctor or nutritionist. After all, everyone’s physique is different, and what is suitable for others may not be suitable for you. Don’t force yourself to follow those unfounded rules, which is not conducive to physical recovery.