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7 Reasons To Hire A Confinement Lady

I miss my confinement lady (pui yuet). She arrived at our doorstep even before we got home from the hospital. She was right there, swept into action as soon as baby Lauren entered our home for the first time. She set up the baby nap area, reorganized my kitchen and made lunch for me. She also helped with midnight feedings, showed me how to bath a baby, made tonics and herbal drinks for my postnatal recovery.

I had initially rejected the idea of hiring a confinement lady. I’ve always been very independent and I wasn’t really sold on the idea of confining myself at home for a whole month. I just didn’t want someone who would nag me to practise old-fashion confinement rules of no bath/shower, no hair wash and no fan/air-con for an entire month! Having a newborn is already life changing enough, would I want a stranger living with me for a whole month too? But my dad insisted I hire someone and even offered to pay her salary for me.

Here are the reasons why I’m glad I hired a confinement lady when my baby was born:

1. Sleep
You’ve just gave birth and lost lots of blood in the process. In order for your body to heal and produce milk (if you are breastfeeding), you will need lots of rest, and of course sleep. Sure I was waking up by 6am every morning to pump my milk, but at least I didn’t have to be awake every 1.5 hours to nurse my newborn. The confinement lady did all my night feedings.

2. Cook

Don’t kid yourself. You think you can look after a newborn and still have time to prepare nutritional home cooked meal for yourself? Well, I thought so. I clearly didn’t know that life with a newborn could be so overwhelming and time consuming. You will spend most day breastfeeding or pumping. Yup, you will feel like a cow, just chill and remember: This too will pass.

3. No mom or mom-in-law

I love my mom-in-law to bits and she is quite modern too but I’ll still take hired help anytime. Just so I can still be in-charge. Most mothers or mother-in-laws mean well when they offer to look after you during your confinement period. But let’s face it, once they are in your house, you play by their rules. Because they are the elderly and supposed to know better. Mostly because you feel indebted to them because they are there for you. Also, your hormone will be all over the place, you’d feel all emotional at the slightest thing they say.

4. Housework

No house chores for a whole month. Whether your va-jay-jay is still hurting too much from birth or not, help with housework is always welcomed anytime.

5. You can ignore her

You still play by your own rules. There are some pretty ridiculous confinement rules that is still being implemented these days, like only drink warm water/beverage, no handwashing with tap water, no fan/air-con. With hired help, you are free to choose whether to follow these rules or break them. I’m the worst, I broke every single rule.

6. She has way more experience handling newborn

Whether this will be your first, second or third child, she would still have more experience than you, Pick her brain. Learn the basics of baby-care from her. You could even learn a thing or two on how to handle your older kid. You’d never know until you ask.

7. Someone to talk to

It gets quite lonely in the first month after giving birth. Unless you have a big family and they drop by al the time. For someone like me whose both sets of parents and in-laws are overseas, she was like a de-facto mom to me.

In my opinion, the pros of hiring a confinement lady outweighs my initial worry and reservation. I’m glad I hired one when I had Lauren. Now that baby number 2 is arriving soon, it is a no-brainer for me; just too bad the same confinement lady won’t be available then. I really miss her cooking too.

Updated: It’s been more than 2 years since I wrote this post. I’ve now helped many couples prepare for the arrival of their babies and recommended many confinement nannies in the process. If you have any questions regarding hiring a confinement nanny, please leave a comment below or email me at mich@thechillmom.com. I’ll be happy to answer any questions.

PS: How to avoid food poisoning during pregnancy?

Earn an income while spending time with kids at home?

7 Reasons To Hire A Confinement Lady

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