https://boards.hellobee.com/ Pregnancy, Baby and Parenting blog, by Hellobee en Fri, 29 May 2026 22:49:36 +0000 https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/anyone-actually-hire-someone-for-their-chinese-confinement#post-1498168 Mon, 17 Mar 2014 10:33:23 +0000 LittleHawk 1498168@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Hi Everyone! I am interested in hiring a confinement nanny. I live in the Los Angeles area. Any recommendations for agencies I could go through to find someone? Thank you! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/anyone-actually-hire-someone-for-their-chinese-confinement#post-686383 Wed, 03 Apr 2013 10:00:35 +0000 emahlee 686383@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I had a confinement lady! My mum hired one for me and since she was forking over the money ($1500-2000, for 4 hours/day, 5 times a week during the month), I obliged. I live in Toronto and prices average $20/hour. The number of hours during the month is dependent on the confinement lady; mine was happy to work only 20 hours a week, while some others require a minimum of 36 hours/week.</p> <p>I didn't follow the traditional confinement. My lady was flexible and easy going. I went about business as I would if she wasn't around, except my husband and I had someone to cook all our meals for us for the month and someone look care of the baby if I was napping. I wasn't too keen on eating all that confinement food- not to my taste- but I'm not complaining (again, I didn't have to cook for a month! And it was nutritious, I guess).</p> <p>She also prepared a lot of ginger water to soak my feet and hands in- it's suppose to help the swelling.</p> <p>My confinement lady encouraged going out for walks, if I was up for it. She said it was good for my general well-being (i.e. staying in = mental me) and wasn't detrimental to healing as long as it wasn't vigorous activity. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/anyone-actually-hire-someone-for-their-chinese-confinement#post-686247 Wed, 03 Apr 2013 09:22:14 +0000 regberadaisy 686247@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@vnvdvci: just saw this while I was searching for a old post of mine.</p> <p>What kind of Chinese are you because the customs differ greatly between regions and villages. ie I'm Fujianese and my SIL is Taijanese (sp?) and my other SIL is Wenchau and in theory all our customs are the same. But when you get down to the nitty gritty they are very different. My SIl ate pigs feet a lot but in my region that's a no no. I literally ate chicken (a very specific breed my mom brought from NYC, no joke) for 3 week straight. In the fourth week my mom let me eat some other food items from a very short and approved list! I also drank a lot of hot soup that had rice wine in it that she made when she found out I was pregnant. She made everything fresh every 3rd day.<br /> No bathing, no washing hair. About mid way through my aunt let my cousin who delivered around the same time wash her hair and shower so I made my mom let me too! hahah But only with hot ginger water. Gah.<br /> And technically speaking it really IS actual confinement as it's bad for wind to blow on your joints. So my time out of the house was very minimal. My mom would yell at me if I went out into the backyard!</p> <p>Is there a Chinese community where you live? Can you post an ad at the local Chinese market?</p> <p>Let me know if you have any other questions! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/anyone-actually-hire-someone-for-their-chinese-confinement#post-598602 Wed, 27 Feb 2013 21:03:37 +0000 vnvdvci 598602@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@shopaholic: Hah yeah, the Korean soup looks better-tasting than the Chinese soups doesn't it?</p> <p>@Mrs. High Heels: Wow, that's very helpful, thanks! I wasn't sure whether confinement was literal...confinement. It looks like it'll be very hard to find a confinement lady, but I want to at least try to drink the soups. I do believe in the benefits of that! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/anyone-actually-hire-someone-for-their-chinese-confinement#post-598443 Wed, 27 Feb 2013 20:04:42 +0000 Mrs. High Heels 598443@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@vnvdvci: I just gave birth on 2/22... so I'm currently going through the month-long confinement process. I was also born and raised in the U.S. so didn't know much about this stuff prior to my first birth. </p> <p>I find that I actually like it because I feel like I'm getting pampered. My MIL has been bringing food to my bed 3x a day and I basically just focus on nursing the baby and resting/recovering. My MIL is korean and I'm chinese so I guess I'm doing a combination of Korean and Chinese postpartum care.</p> <p>I do get antsy and claustrophobic, and I'm dying for an ice cold glass of soda... but this is my second time going through this so I'm learning to enjoy it as much as I can.</p> <p>My own mom also made some Chinese soups for me, but because she's still working full time I see her less frequently. I love the Chinese soups and was curious how to make them, so I stumbled upon this site with all the essential Chinese postpartum recipes - <a href="http://www.thechinesesouplady.com/?cat=37" rel="nofollow">http://www.thechinesesouplady.com/?cat=37</a></p> <p>I fully believe in the confinement period (minus the not showering... there is no way, no how!) - I can tell that my joints are weak and it makes sense to me why you wouldn't want to strain your body too much and how some of the soups provide healing properties (like the gelatin from pig's feet, and seaweed soup to boost milk supply, etc). </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/anyone-actually-hire-someone-for-their-chinese-confinement#post-598421 Wed, 27 Feb 2013 19:46:55 +0000 shopaholic 598421@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@vnvdvci: Well, baby isn't here yet. My ILs are going to stay with us a few days (or a week) and my MIL will make me some soup. I'm sure enough to freeze and leave me some as well. My grandma will make me some soup too I think and bring it over if I need it. I also was thinking I can make the Korean Miyuk Gook soup myself, since that sounds tastier and looks really easy to cook. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/anyone-actually-hire-someone-for-their-chinese-confinement#post-598265 Wed, 27 Feb 2013 18:16:56 +0000 vnvdvci 598265@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@shopaholic: Wow, so what did you end up doing? I want to just make the soups myself and freeze beforehand but my mom says they wouldn't be fresh then...</p> <p>I'll be checking out prices (if I can find someone) this weekend and then post my findings. HB can get an updated price range for Canada too lol. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/anyone-actually-hire-someone-for-their-chinese-confinement#post-598231 Wed, 27 Feb 2013 17:57:38 +0000 shopaholic 598231@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@vnvdvci: Yeah, originally a [single and childless] GF told me she thought $1500-2000/month and my mom was on board to help cover part of the cost since she isn't coming to help. But no way at the prices we got! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/anyone-actually-hire-someone-for-their-chinese-confinement#post-598225 Wed, 27 Feb 2013 17:55:57 +0000 Mrs. Pen 598225@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>tagging @regberadaisy as she is Chinese and loves this stuff :) her mom took care of her and her DD after her birth. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/anyone-actually-hire-someone-for-their-chinese-confinement#post-598223 Wed, 27 Feb 2013 17:54:54 +0000 vnvdvci 598223@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@shopaholic: Wow! 4k is crazy! I don't even know where to look for someone in my smallish city though. Where did you find people? Edit: I see suggestions on your other thread--thanks!</p> <p>My mom saaaaaaid money didn't matter but 4k is probably not what she was thinking! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/anyone-actually-hire-someone-for-their-chinese-confinement#post-598212 Wed, 27 Feb 2013 17:50:02 +0000 shopaholic 598212@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@vnvdvci: I posted about this a couple of months ago. You can read the thread here: <a href="http://boards.hellobee.com/topic/asian-moms-1-month-nanny#post-480699" rel="nofollow">http://boards.hellobee.com/topic/asian-moms-1-month-nanny#post-480699</a></p> <p>I was planning to hire a lady, but the prices I got for our area were close to $4K for the month! Just to hire someone to do the cooking of all the foods and soups (and you pick up or they deliver) was $1800-2000 for the month's worth. Sooo.... I quickly dismissed that idea. </p> <p>But I do like the idea of someone coming to help and take care of both you and the baby. A lot of women swear by it and others complain about life long problems they acquired after birth from not taking care of themselves. If your mom is willing to hire someone, I say go for it! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/anyone-actually-hire-someone-for-their-chinese-confinement#post-598197 Wed, 27 Feb 2013 17:43:25 +0000 vnvdvci 598197@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>So I just talked to my mom and she's insisting that I need to hire someone to cook and help for my month-long confinement after delivery. Like, NEED to do this, or else my bones will melt or something. I'm not a huge believer but I'm thinking it might be a good idea anyway because...hey, it means someone cooking and helping me with baby?</p> <p>Anyway, I didn't grow up in a big Chinese community and was born in the US so I know just about zilch on this. I know some of the traditional foods but not what this whole thing entails. My mom lives far away and can only stay a week, so she wants me to hire someone who will do this confinement stuff for me--apparently it's not an uncommon thing in China...is that true? I have no idea what I need to be expecting! </p>