In the hot summer, the family insisted on not turning on the air-conditioning fan and letting the woman cover the quilt. what do you think?

Seeing this news, Dr. Lilac was heartbroken. In such hot weather, I just don't turn on the air conditioning fan, but wear long clothes and trousers to cover the quilt. Ordinary people know how uncomfortable it is when they think about it, let alone a woman who just gave birth to a child. I deeply feel sorry for this new mother who died unfortunately! The most terrible thing in this world is not ignorance, but giving ignorance the name of love. In thousands of corners of Qian Qian, China, I don't know how many pregnant women are silently bearing this ignorant love.

In China, most pregnant women will hold a special "ceremony"-giving birth within a few weeks after giving birth. There are many taboos in traditional confinement, the most common ones are: absolute warmth, even in summer, the whole body should be strictly covered; Can't go out or even get out of bed, can't blow; Can't wash your face, wash your hair, take a bath or brush your teeth; In terms of diet, we should avoid cold food and eat all kinds of "supplements"; Even with modern technology, a new taboo has developed, that is, you can't watch TV, mobile phones, etc., so as not to hurt your eyes.

It is generally believed that the experience passed down from generation to generation must be reasonable. However, the fact is that the traditional is not necessarily reliable, and the experience is not necessarily correct! From the perspective of modern medicine, many practices of traditional confinement are not only not beneficial to maternal health, but even potentially harmful!

China people's "confinement" reliable? 1. Are pregnant women and newborns afraid of the wind?

There was no concept of sterilization in ancient times, and pregnant women and newborns were prone to bacterial infection, which led to illness and even death. Tetanus is a typical example. Tetanus is caused by tetanus Bacillus infection. There are many tetanus bacilli in people's intestines, and the wounds of women during childbirth and the umbilical cord of babies are easily contaminated by feces, thus contracting tetanus. The nerve center of tetanus patients is easily stimulated, such as strong light, wind blowing, sound, vibration, drinking water, etc., which can induce convulsions.

Due to the lack of medical and microbiological knowledge, the ancients generally attributed many physical discomfort and diseases to "catching a cold" and "catching a cold". They think that tetanus is a cold after a broken body, so the countermeasure is to let people with wounds avoid external stimuli such as wind blowing.

Neonatal tetanus often occurs in about 7 days, so it is also called "seven-day wind". The huge lethality of tetanus makes people afraid of external stimuli such as "wind", so maternity and newborn must be strictly windproof and warm. As we all know, tetanus is an anaerobic bacterium. If the wound is closed for a long time, it will form a local hypoxia environment, which is more conducive to the reproduction of bacteria.

The closed doors and windows at home, stuffy indoors and dirty air are also conducive to the growth and reproduction of bacteria, which is not conducive to the healing of maternal wounds; In summer, pregnant women and babies are wrapped tightly, which will increase the risk of heatstroke.

In America, pregnant women wear the same clothes as ordinary people when they leave the hospital. If it is a hot summer, the parturient also wears short sleeves and skirts, wears slippers barefoot, and opens the window for ventilation and uses air conditioning as usual. Usually within a few days (no more than a week) after discharge, both mother and baby will go to see a pediatrician, and going out is even more essential.

2. Wonn't women get wet?

Because people often get sick in winter or cold, and the water quality is not clean enough, and there is no shower condition, tetanus patients will twitch because of the stimulation of drinking water. The ancients who lacked relevant knowledge thought that patients were also caused by catching cold and getting wet with water (especially cold water), which led to the taboo that women were not allowed to wash their faces, wash their hair, bathe and brush their teeth, and even the absurd statement that washing hurts where. In fact, these practices are just taken for granted, and the key lies in disinfection measures and sanitary conditions.

In developed countries, hospital wards are generally equipped with showers, and doctors will urge pregnant women to take a bath a few hours after delivery. Tearing and vaginal lateral incision during delivery do not affect bathing, even the day after caesarean section. In addition to bathing, lying-in women should wash their vulva several times a day to promote lochia discharge and recovery of birth canal. The traditional confinement rules are unscientific and unsanitary, which is not only detrimental to the recovery of the maternal body, but also poses a threat to the baby's health.

3. Can't a woman get out of bed?

Maternal physical exertion during childbirth, usually accompanied by blood loss, really needs rest after childbirth, but rest does not mean that you can only rest in bed. In fact, proper activities are more conducive to women's postpartum recovery. Because the blood is in hypercoagulable state before and after delivery (this stress reaction can reduce the blood loss during delivery), long-term bed rest is easy to form thrombus in the lower limbs, and if it migrates with the blood to the heart and lungs, it will even bring life-threatening effects. In the past, in the farming society, women often took part in a lot of manual labor besides all housework, and even if they were sick, they rarely took a rest. In this case, it is of positive significance to give lying-in women the opportunity to rest in bed. Things are different now. In American maternity hospitals, doctors or nurses will urge women to get up a few hours after delivery.

4. Does postpartum dietary taboo make sense?

The traditional habit of confinement is the most complicated part about diet. On the one hand, many daily foods such as vegetables and fruits are not allowed to eat, and even water is not allowed to drink; On the other hand, we should eat some strange things, such as rice wine and water, boiled eggs with brown sugar, biochemical soup and so on. Some enlightened doctors will tell you that of course you should drink water, but you should drink warm water instead of cold water. Eat vegetables and fruits, but don't eat irritating foods such as onions, garlic and peppers. In fact, although warm water can be drunk, cold water or even ice water can also be drunk; In American hospitals, nurses will hand over a glass of ice water or ice cream just after delivery. Spicy food may affect the taste of milk, but it can be eaten correctly as long as the baby can accept it. Lactating women should not eat more gas-producing foods, including soybeans, garlic and broccoli. And the ingredients of these foods will enter the milk, causing bloating in children.

Lactating women should be careful not to drink alcohol and drink less coffee and tea. In addition, those strange moon meals and medicated diets, as well as some postpartum "tonics" need to be taboo, because the ingredients and efficacy inside have not been proved, and conventional food is the safest food.

5. Is there such a thing as moon sickness?

"Moon disease" is a folk saying in China. It is said that some roots fell off when you were not careful on the moon. Specific symptoms include low back and leg pain, joint pain, headache and toothache. There is even a wonderful theory of "monthly illness and monthly care". Obstetricians in some regular hospitals also agree with the traditional custom of confinement, but their understanding also comes from the people, because there is no concept of moon disease in regular medical textbooks.

With the growth of age, people have more and more opportunities to suffer from various chronic diseases. These diseases or discomforts are usually explained as the result of carelessness during childbirth. In fact, no matter how strict confinement is, it is still possible to suffer from various chronic diseases in old age, and there is no statistical data to show the correlation between confinement and some diseases. The so-called lunar disease is just people's preconceived ideas, and then look for examples to support their views. This phenomenon is called "confirmation bias" in psychology, which is a very unscientific but common attitude.

6. Do foreigners have confinement?

There are some traditional practices about postpartum care all over the world. Let's call it confinement. Different countries have similar methods of confinement. For example, most people require bed rest and warmth, which should be caused by the low level of life and cognition in the past; The food eaten in confinement often varies greatly, which is obviously caused by the diversity of diets in various places. Even in China, the custom of confinement varies from region to region. The diversity of confinement clearly shows that this is actually a cultural phenomenon and has nothing to do with science.

If we compare confinement with developed countries, we will find that the more developed countries, the less confinement. Women in western Europe, North America, and Japan basically don't sit on the moon after childbirth; Both developed and traditional South Korea and China Taiwan Province Province have basically abandoned those harmful confinement customs, but retained a lot of irrelevant attention; Chinese mainland is the hardest hit area for confinement. Not only is there no evidence that the custom of confinement is positively related to women's health and longevity, on the contrary, women in Europe, America and Japan who don't confinement have the best health and the longest life span all over the world.

7. Are China people physically special?

When it comes to European and American women who don't have confinement after giving birth, it is always said that their physique is different from that of China, and foreign women are stronger. There are indeed some physiological differences between different races, but these differences must be investigated in a scientific way, and it is unreliable to use life customs as a standard. For example, white people's skin is more sensitive to ultraviolet rays and more prone to skin cancer. Scientifically speaking, white people should protect themselves from the sun. However, the reality is that white people love to bask in the sun. If we judge from the customs of life, we will come to the wrong conclusion that white people should bask in the sun the most.

Medical textbooks have never said that yellow people need special postpartum care, not to mention that Japanese people are yellow people like China people, and many East Asians live in Europe and America. Don't they live well without confinement? Others say that China people eat too much meat when they come to the United States, so they are "angry" and are not afraid of the cold, and so on. These are even more nonsense. There are also many vegetarians in Europe and America, and the Japanese eat a lot of products. According to China folks, isn't it more "cold"? Besides, in China, the custom of confinement varies from place to place. Where should Gansu women go when they get married and have children in Fujian?

8. Is there any scientific research on confinement?

As mentioned above, there is no dispute about the disadvantages of traditional confinement in medicine, but in view of the fact that some (developing) countries still retain the custom of confinement, there are also some studies in this area (traditional postpartum practice). All these studies show that the traditional confinement is harmful, which deserves the vigilance of maternal and child medical workers and newborn families in China.

In short, the traditional confinement is an unscientific bad habit. For the health of mothers and babies, these bad habits should be swept into the garbage dump of history as soon as possible.

How to "confinement" scientifically? 1, postpartum care of natural delivery

Conduct appropriate activities according to your own situation every day; Natural childbirth is often accompanied by vaginal tearing or vaginal lateral incision. In order to relieve the pain of the wound, you can use an ice pack to apply it through a clean tampon. In order to reduce the tingling sensation when urinating, wash the vulva with warm water when urinating; Hold the wound tightly with a clean absorbent pad when defecating; Keep the wound clean, and clean the vaginal opening and anus with a bottle after each defecation; Be careful when sitting down, it will be more comfortable to sit on a pillow or pillow; Brush your teeth every day, keep your body clean, and take a bath regularly if possible.

2. Nursing care after caesarean section

Try to relax and rest, but daily activities are also essential, and moderate activities are conducive to postoperative recovery; Put what you and your baby need in an easy-to-get place; In the first few weeks, don't move or lift anything heavier than the baby; Pay attention to the posture of standing and walking; Cover your hands near the abdominal wound when coughing, sneezing or laughing; If necessary, take ibuprofen or paracetamol to relieve the pain. These drugs are safe for lactating women. Drink plenty of water (including milk and soup, etc.). ). Drinking plenty of water can replenish the water lost during production and breastfeeding, and prevent constipation on the other hand; Pay attention to urination to reduce the risk of urinary tract infection; Brush your teeth every day, keep your body clean, and take a bath regularly if possible.

Step 3 prescribe diet

The maternal diet is not much different from the healthy diet we usually advocate. Maternal women can eat more fish, lean meat, milk and nuts on this basis to ensure the intake of high-quality protein and essential fatty acids; Be sure to drink enough water; Vitamins and essential fatty acids taken during pregnancy should be taken again. The so-called folk cold and spicy, do not need to avoid. Do not drink (or smoke), and drink less coffee, tea and caffeinated drinks (such as cola, cocoa, red bull, etc.). ) and try to avoid desserts, fast food and sugary soft drinks.

Step 4 live and dress

If possible, the indoor temperature should be kept at 20-26℃, which is a comfortable temperature for human body. It is possible to use air conditioners and electric fans to open windows for ventilation; It is advisable for lying-in women to wear comfortable clothes, and don't deliberately wear more. Babies should wear one more layer than adults, but not too much.

5. Computers and mobile phones

Mothers can use computers and mobile phones, and the radiation is not enough to cause harm. It is not a healthy lifestyle for ordinary people to watch computers and mobile phones for a long time, so pregnant women should pay more attention to fatigue. But the so-called no computer and no mobile phone in the next month is groundless.

The content refers to the popular science article of Lilac Doctor App: How to scientifically "sit on the moon"

Editor \ Li Huai