BY ISELIN AMANDA STOYLEN

After Birth

In Traditional Chinese Medicine*, we are taught the value of of zuo yue zi (坐月月子子), translated as ‘sitting the month’. This time is a forty day period traced back to as early as the year 960. Zuo yue zi is a set of diet and lifestyle recommendations practiced after birth to restore a woman’s postpartum body to health and give her the opportunity to heal.

Transitioning into Motherhood

There are regional deviations, but the essence remains very much the same; after birth, the mother stays at home with her newborn; resting for at least forty days. The mother is carefully looked after by close family members, relatives, other women and/or her neighbours - or say a doula. It is a strong belief that time has a sacredness to it; it holds the key to the woman’s health and wellbeing moving forward.

Replenishing the mother

There are a few basic principles the mother is recommended to follow in order to replenish her yin energy after childbirth. Warm, cooked and soft foods are recommended, and anything cold, frozen, refrigerated or raw is generally avoided. Warmth in all its forms are encouraged, not just through food and diet, but through love, laughter, happiness, companionship and connection.

SOME THINGS TO CONSIDER AS YOU PREPARE FOR THE TIME AFTER BIRTH, ARE:

Create a sacred zone for you and your baby. 

Communicate to your partner/family/friends how they

can best support you after birth. 

Look into hiring a doula.

Consider having someone organising a meal train for you after birth: a schedule for meals delivered to you in the first four weeks after pregnancy.

Lactation and breastfeeding courses- many hospitals and birth centres offer lactation courses for expecting

mothers/families.

Reflection prompts, more detailed recommendations and recipes included in the full guide. - purchase HERE $9.95