For some mothers, the confinement time is traumatic and horrifying, aka imprisonment in your own room with your new baby that cries and poops non stop. Thank God for me, today being day 14 and it’s going great. I owed it a lot to a very nice confinement lady. But that’s for another post. Today, I want to talk about some of the products I bought that really helped me through the pain and the supposed torture.
1) No-Rinse Shampoo and Body Wash
I bought these from Thebabyloft.com. Most women, me included, cannot go more than 2 days without washing their hair. So imagine when in confinement we are not supposed to wash in 30 days. My confinement lady gave me 3 weeks, although I eventually washed on day 12. Some women probably washed on the first day itself, but I didn’t want to take the risk, as I am the kind that get headaches if my hair is wet and the wind the chilly. Anyways, so I survived 12 days of no shower hair washing by using the no-rinse shampoo. It’s as easy as pouring some over your dry hair, and work it into a lather, and then just wipe off. I added a step to blow dry as well. I admit that it doesn’t feel as great as washing the normal way, but at least I can go to bed with nice smelling hair and not the sticky feeling and all. Malaysian weather doesn’t help as it’s hot throughout the day and sometimes into the night. Confinement mothers, don’t ever ever try to use Dry Shampoo, it will make your hair worse!
I don’t use the body wash as much, but it came in real handy to me when I was in the ward for 3 days. The water there was freezing cold, and there was no way I could just step into the shower and step out into the air conditioned ward and feel great. So I skipped that and used the no-rinse body wash instead. This one does need water, I just needed a small bucket of water, pour a bit of the shampoo inside and used a tower to wipe all over. It is said to be a good perineal cleanser as well.
Cost: RM45 each
2) Earth Mama Angel Baby: Milkmaid Tea
Essential tea for mothers planning to breastfeed. The main ingredient in this tea is Fenugreek, which is well known to promote lactation. I drank this immediately from Day 1, and it really helped with the milk production. I actually went one day without it on Day 11, as I was going off all herbs due to baby’s jaundice and wondered if this should be excluded. Immediately, the next day, milk production was all time low, you’d know when baby takes forever to nurse and is never satisfied. Plus you can literally see less milk. Ones in teabags are also available.
Cost: RM45 at thelittlewhiz.com
3) New Mama Bottom Spray
I can’t begin to stress how this little spray saved me from every nightmarish toilet visit after delivery. Especially for mothers that had a normal delivery. Just imagine the pain and soreness and what else goes down that area after it feels like ripped apart, and then you have to go to the loo, more than once a day, and sometimes maybe do a number 2. After every visit, just a little spray of this can help ease the discomfort. Today at Day 14 I still use it, even though much has already healed. My biggest worry on Day 1 was the toilet visit, it really was a dread. This may be overpriced, but very worth every drop.
Cost: RM74.90 at Thebabyloft.com
Ok there are like lots and lots of other things I needed everyday, like my ibook, oxygen, my bed, the aircond, to name a few, but the above stuffs are things new mothers probably wouldn’t have bought that I am strongly recommending.