Name: Namitha

Interesting question. As a person who didnt really care about my diet before I had the baby, as part of the confinement practices, I went along with what my mom dictated, and actually ended up enjoying the diet. I do believe it affects the baby if you are exclusively nursing. For 40 days after delivery and even longer since I relished it I had fresh food at every meal no leftovers absolutely even within the day -- rasam a SOuth Indian soup like concotion with a lentil base, tempered with cumin and mustard, a vegetable lightly sauteed and tempered, and rice. No curd but milk instead. Between meals I had oat porridge which I grew to love, and toast if I felt like it. I also had garlic fried in ghee which is believe to increase milk flow besides helping to control flatulence. I have also found that chewing a small quantity abt quarter tsp of ajwain I believe this is called bishops weed after your meals helps to control flatulence and vomiting in the infant. Believe me, you get plenty of advice from everybody, but it depends a lot on how much help you have to do all these things. In India, women are usually pampered during this time by their moms, so it is fine to sit back and relaxdid I say relax?...I mean look after the baby. In S. India a great deal of importance is placed on diet, and also restrictions are placed on going out. Apart from whatever religious and social connotations this has, I do believe that it is primarily to avoid infection. Having been through a tense eighth month, and having an induced delivery with a 2.25kg baby, I didnt want to take any risks.
THere is another school of thought that all this does not matter. But it helped me to have some kind of regimen in my life when it suddenly changed forever.

Subscribe to this conversation Reply Anonymously