Postpartum care

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Postpartum care or postnatal care is a service provided to individuals in the postpartum period, to help with postpartum recuperation and restoration.

Contents

Traditional postpartum care

Many traditional forms of postpartum confinement exist throughout the world. Chinese Zuo Yuezi (sitting the month) and European Lying-in are examples.

Korea

Sanhujori is Korea's version of postpartum care. It draws on principles that emphasize activities and foods that keep the body warm, rest and relaxation to maximize the body's return to its normal state, maintaining cleanliness, eating nutritious foods, and peace of mind and heart. [1] The confinement period is known as samchil-il (three seven days). [2]

Modern commercial versions

Traditionally, women were taken care of by their elders: their mother, mother-in-law, sister, or aunt. The lying-in hospitals provided an institutional variation which gave women weeks of bedrest and a respite from household chores. Increasingly, these older women are unavailable or unwilling to take on this role; given the lingering effects of the one-child policy, many older Chinese women had limited experience of newborn babies, having only had one themselves. Replacements for this familial help are commercial services, both in the home and at residential centres.

At home

Agencies provide specialist carers that come to the new parents' home. This job used to be known as the monthly nurse, as she came and lived with the family for a month. Now more common terms are maternity nurse, newborn care specialist, or confinement nanny; the worker is not a registered health care professional such as the word "nurse" usually implies in current English. In Indian English the role is called a "japa maid".

A doula is best known as a birth companion, but some provide practical and emotional post-birth support. A lactation consultant and a health visitor are trained health professionals who may assist the new mother at this time. In the Netherlands, the in-home support is known as kraamzorg , and standard within the national health insurance system.

The use of yue sao, a specialist carer translated in Canada as "postpartum doula", [3] is also very common in China. Yue sao typically are live-in domestic helpers who care for both the new mother and baby for the first month after birth. Salaries as at 2017 vary from RMB8000 to RMB20000 per month depending on city and experience. [4] They are described as "mothering the mother". [5] Australian documentary-maker Aela Callan called them "Chinese supermums" but says they are colloquially known as "confinement ladies". [6]

Residential facilities

Companies have sprung up to offer extended postpartum care outside the home, sometimes in a hotel-like environment. Luxury options are a business. [7] Private postpartum care centres were introduced to Korea in 1996 under the name of sanhujoriwon . [8] Within the Chinese tradition, specialist businesses such as Red Wall Confinement Centre charge up to $27,000 for one month. [9] In Taiwan, postpartum nursing centres are popular, for those who can afford them. [10]

Birth tourism centres operating under the radar in the United States for Chinese women offer "sitting the month". [11]

See also

Related Research Articles

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Postpartum depression Endogenous major depressive episode experienced by women after giving birth

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Doula A non-medical companion who supports a person through significant health-related experiences

A doula is a trained companion who is not a healthcare professional and who supports another person through a significant health-related experience, such as childbirth, miscarriage, induced abortion or stillbirth, or non-reproductive experiences such as dying. A doula may also provide support to the client's partner, family, and friends.

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Lying-in

Lying-in is the term given to the European forms of postpartum confinement, the traditional practice involving long bed rest before and after giving birth. The term and the practice it describes are old-fashioned or archaic, but it used to be considered an essential component of the postpartum period, even if there were no medical complications during childbirth.

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Early postnatal hospital discharge generally refers to the postpartum hospital discharge of the mother and newborn within 48 hours. The duration of what is considered "early discharge" varies between countries from 12 to 72 hours due to the differences in average duration of hospital stay. The World Health Organisation (WHO) recommends healthy mothers and newborns following an uncomplicated vaginal delivery at a health facility to stay and receive care at the facility for at least 24 hours after delivery. This recommendation is based on findings which suggest that the first 24 hours after giving birth poses the greatest risks for both the mother and newborn.

Monthly nurse

A monthly nurse is a woman who looks after a mother and her baby during the postpartum or postnatal period. The phrase is now largely obsolete, but the job continues under other names and various conditions around the world.

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A midwife is a health professional who cares for mothers and newborns around childbirth, a specialization known as midwifery.

Nurse midwife

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Postpartum confinement

Postpartum confinement refers to a traditional practice following childbirth. Those who follow these customs typically begin immediately after the birth, and the seclusion or special treatment lasts for a culturally variable length: typically for one month or 30 days, up to 40 days, two months or 100 days. This postnatal recuperation can include care practices in regards of "traditional health beliefs, taboos, rituals, and proscriptions." The practice used to be known as "lying-in", which, as the term suggests, centres around bed rest. In some cultures it may be connected to taboos concerning impurity after childbirth.

This article provides a background on Nepal as a whole, with a focus on the nation's childbearing and birthing practices. While modern Western medicine has disseminated across the country to varying degrees, different regions in Nepal continue to practice obstetric and newborn care according to traditional beliefs, attitudes, and customs.

Childbirth practices in India are shaped by the prevalence of Hinduism and joint-family living, India's young average population, the lower national average age at marriage, and disparities in social status and literacy between men and women. Inadequate maternal health care services in India are a result of poor organization, the huge rural-urban divide, and large interstate disparities coupled with stringent social-economic and cultural constraints.

Sanhujori is the Korean system of postpartum care, a culturally specific form of postpartum care. Sanhujori include consuming healthy foods, doing exercise and warming up the body. The sanhujori period typically lasts approximately from one week to one month. Sanhujori is a compound word: 'sanhu' and 'jori'. In a pre-modern society, sanhujori services were provided by the family members of mothers. However, the traditional extended family system has been broken up and the services began to be offered by private postpartum centers (sanhujoriwon) and postpartum care workers (sanhujorisa). People often believe that sanhujori has a great impact on women's life-long health conditions; mothers who do not properly perform sanhujori practices may suffer from a range of illnesses, such as joint inflammation, urinary incontinence, low blood pressure, and depression.

This article documents traditional and some modern childbirth practices in Korea. Korea has some special cultures in terms of childbirth. An interesting fact about Korea’s childbirth is that Korea reached 0.95% birthrate in 2019, which is the lowest among OECD countries. Most of the women go to the hospital for childbirth these days. There is a special place for the postnatal care center, which is called Sanhujori center.

Childbirth in China is influenced by traditional Chinese medicine, state control of reproductive health and birthing, and the adoption of modern biomedical practices. There are an estimated 16 million births annually in mainland China. In 2019, the fertility rate was 1.696 births per woman.

References

  1. ↑ Kim, Jeongeun (March 2003). "Survey on the Programs of Sanhujori Centers in Korea as the Traditional Postpartum Care Facilities". Women & Health. 38 (2): 107–117. doi:10.1300/j013v38n02_08. ISSN   0363-0242. PMID   14655798. S2CID   26722305.
  2. ↑ Dennis, Cindy-Lee; Fung, Kenneth; Grigoriadis, Sophie; Robinson, Gail Erlick; Romans, Sarah; Ross, Lori (July 2007). "Traditional Postpartum Practices and Rituals: A Qualitative Systematic Review". Women's Health. 3 (4): 487–502. doi: 10.2217/17455057.3.4.487 . ISSN   1745-5065. PMID   19804024.
  3. ↑ Quan, Douglas (January 15, 2017). "Underground industry serves moms who follow Chinese custom of 'sitting the month' after childbirth". National Post. Retrieved 28 October 2017.
  4. ↑ "Yue Sao". Ayicheng. Archived from the original on 2017-10-13. Retrieved 2017-07-24.
  5. ↑ "ownyourbirth". ownyourbirth. Archived from the original on 30 October 2018. Retrieved 17 April 2018.
  6. ↑ "China's Supermums". News. SBS (Australian TV channel) . Retrieved 17 April 2018.
  7. ↑ "Where a new baby means relaxation". NewsComAu. 21 September 2015. Retrieved 17 April 2018.
  8. ↑ Michiyo, Nomura (2016). "A Study on the Continuance and Variation of Korean Traditional Postnatal Care in a Modern Postpartum Care Center". The Korean Folklore Society. 63: 37–77. doi:10.21318/TKF.2016.05.63.37.
  9. ↑ Levin, Dan (October 2015). "Red Wall Confinement Centre". New York Times. Retrieved 2017-07-24.
  10. ↑ Yeh, Yueh-Chen; St John, Winsome; Venturato, Lorraine (1 June 2016). "Inside a Postpartum Nursing Center: Tradition and Change". Asian Nursing Research. 10 (2): 94–99. doi: 10.1016/j.anr.2016.03.001 . ISSN   1976-1317. PMID   27349665.
  11. ↑ Ni, Ching-Ching (25 March 2011). "'Birthing tourism' center in San Gabriel shut down". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 14 April 2018.
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