i would go crazy if i went to my mum's for 6 weeks post-birth! My midwife encouraged me to just hang in bed with baby for as long as possible. Actually, i did the same thing 1st time around so didn't really need the encouragement!
I had a freezer stacked, and am fortunate to have people who visited bring food too.
My girlfriend who is of Turkish background was horrified I was out with baby in the weeks post-birth. This is still practiced in her family and broader community here in Melb.
I read that article a couple of days ago when it came out and what struck me is how unfair it is that we, as a society, pretty much leave women alone to deal with the stresses of having a newborn. While "confinement" might be extreme, i think it's great that a community would rally around a new mother and attend to her every need in the weeks following birth.
I wonder if our PND rates would be lower if we still had such a thing today???
Workplaces need to be more accommodating too. My Dh has never had more than a few days off after each baby and with family interstate it's pretty full on to do it alone. I was lucky to have a fabulous sister help me after dd, but I flew solo after da and now I truly know how resilient I am!
My sisters DH is Asian. She just had a baby, and they flew a "grandma" from Malaysia to Australia to help my sister for the first 8 weeks. It is what they do in Malaysia. They all help each other.
Each to their own. I hung around home alot in the first four weeks but in the end was itching to go out with just my DD to the shops.
When DD was born, my DH had three weeks off then my mum come over for a week to help out. I really didn't need it, I actually prefer to do things on my own accord alot of the time. If I need help, I ask for it.
I know my sisters husbands family is Orthodox and they stay home for the first 40 days after giving birth.
I didn't read the article but just wanted to say that my family believes in a confinement period. I did it with my 2nd child because my mum was in town then. I didn't with number 1, number 3 and number 4, because I didn't think I needed to. But my mum reckons it's why Asian women recover from childbirth more easily than women who don't have confinement periods. And I actually kinda agree. I don't think women who have given birth are given the time to recover properly a lot of the time, and we're expecting to pop the child out and go back to normal asap. And we think we have to be superwomen so we do. And then wonder why we feel so rundown all the time.
I used to live in Korea and it's traditinoal there to spend a month in bed being cared for post-birth. Back then, I thought it sounded horrid. But then, I'd never had a baby.
I think if you're actually being cared for, then it would be excellent for all mums. Totally agree with Sushee about the unrealistic expectations that we put on ourselves and other mums to just get on and do EVERYTHING by themselves from day dot.
2014 BellyBelly RAK Recipient.
article- Confinement period
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