"I’ll such lays here begin shall end above."
November 14, 2022 9:04 AM   Subscribe

Postpartum confinement is the general term for remaining in bed or in seclusion for a period of time after childbirth. Many cultures have some form of this practice including China where it's called "Sitting the Month" and Latin American cultures of spending the first 40 days after childbirth in "quarantine" or la cuarentena. However, the practice of prepartum confinement, often simply called bed rest, is still used for certain pregnancy complications but used to be a more normalized part of European pregnancies for certain classes.

The concept of lying-in usually involves both pre- and post-partum restrictions in more modern times--evoked in names of hospitals like the Boston Lying-in Hospital, the Hospital for the Relief of Poor Lying-in Women in Dublin, and the General Lying-In Hospital in London--but prior to that lying-in prepartum was a practice primarily for royal and noble women and involved very elaborate rituals and talismans and midwives. (that is, to the extent that we know about any of this because history of these times was still primarily written by men)

"...in the medieval period would close themselves off from the world for a period of time before giving birth.... The birthing chamber was created as a type of ‘second womb’, designed to give the new baby as peaceful an entry to the world as possible.

Fires were lit, windows were shut up and covered with calming tapestries – regardless of the weather – and religious items were scattered around to give spiritual reassurance. Light was believed to harm an expectant mother’s eyes, so the room was dim and quiet. There she would stay until the baby was born."

A royal expectant parent would have a farewell party with her male servants and would then take communion and then enter... a "world of women" for the final trimester.

While Royals gave birth in their own homes (the first royal baby born in a hospital was in 1982) nobles would often leave their country homes in a process called "going to town" and take up in rented rooms in London placing straw on the street outside both to draw attention to the impending birth but also to dampen the sound of carriage wheels.

Post title comes from Hester Pulter’s space travel poem, This Was Written in 1648, When I Lay in, With My Son John.
posted by jessamyn (12 comments total) 10 users marked this as a favorite
 
I remember visiting an abbey in the Loire river valley in France and being delighted at the phrase on a plaque: “[the abbey] was also used by repentant noblewomen wishing to withdraw from the world.” Pregnant or not, who hasn’t wanted to withdraw from the world repentantly at some point?
posted by sixswitch at 9:36 AM on November 14, 2022 [2 favorites]


Confinement centres are getting more popular here especially for those following Chinese customs, reflecting the more urban and migratory nature of the community (it feels more professional; the family structure these days is more nuclear; it's not as easy to find individual confinement specialists). The other cultures (as well as those who couldn't afford staying in a centre) still practice drop-in confinement 'aunties', who'll visit every other day. On the whole, especially for first time parents, it's usually very appreciated because it's not just lying down to recuperate - food is cooked for you (in fact this is the time the men in a hetero ship is expected to make their presence felt especially nowadays when a mother(-in-law) in the kitchen is not a given), though with an array of restrictions that's not really generalizable across our cultures, and a lot of physical therapies and little spa-like treatments (Malays and Indonesians would have regular hair/scalp paste applied to cool down their head as they recover). I see the South American practice run along similar lines. Definitely the same big cultural taboo on showering at least in the first week or cold food - a big fear of 'cold wind' is how we describe it. All in all it's not a dying practice at all. If anything now that centres are becoming a viable option it seems to be a bourgeoning sector.
posted by cendawanita at 9:37 AM on November 14, 2022 [5 favorites]



Fires were lit, windows were shut up and covered with calming tapestries – regardless of the weather – and religious items were scattered around to give spiritual reassurance. Light was believed to harm an expectant mother’s eyes, so the room was dim and quiet. There she would stay until the baby was born."


Apparently, they were centuries ahead of modern medicine:
Together, these data suggest that melatonin enhances noradrenaline-dependent contractions to help initiate labor. Second, melatonin acts in cooperation with the non-apeptide oxytocin, which stimulates the myometrium by binding to G protein-coupled oxytocin receptors.
Because bright light suppresses melatonin, and it reaches peak levels in the dark.
posted by jamjam at 10:22 AM on November 14, 2022 [2 favorites]


In the US, there's a kind of HR equivalent of this...

For example, my workplace allows for a "period of actual disability" when we can use our accrued sick leave to go out with full pay. This period is one month prior to the expected due date (weeks 36-39), and 6 weeks after for postpartum recovery, and requires a doctor's note.

After 6 weeks, we can be out on (unpaid) FMLA time to care for the baby, but it's not considered medical leave for the pregnant person.
posted by subdee at 12:09 PM on November 14, 2022


I am delighted to learn the etymology of the word quarantine
posted by plasmatron7 at 12:34 PM on November 14, 2022 [2 favorites]


산후조리원 ('postpartum care center') are a thing in Korea. While women mainly learned about them through word of mouth in the early 2000's, they became widespread starting in 2009, when the government recognized the institution and started regulating them. It's estimated about 75% of Korean women who gave birth use these facilities postpartum. In general they provide instruction in breastfeeding and caring for the newborn, as well as exercise classes and physical therapy if needed. How spa-like they are will depend on the cost. At the 산후조리원 the woman can focus on recovery from the birth and bonding with the child, while being freed from housework and other caregiving concerns .

And being Korea, of course there was a k-drama about them, 산후조리원 ('Birthcare Center')!
posted by needled at 1:29 PM on November 14, 2022 [7 favorites]


When our firstborn arrived in 1975, he and his mother had, a more-or-less compulsory, six days in the post-natal ward. 4 of the 6 beds were occupied by jolly middle-aged women on their "annual holiday". Apart from Nollaig na mBan (when cooking/cleaning roles were traditionally swapped with Dad) and the Feast of the Immaculate Conception 8th December (set aside for Xmas shopping); these women were working all day 357 days a year. Nowadays mothers are hooshed out at 11:00hrs the day after delivery.
posted by BobTheScientist at 1:39 PM on November 14, 2022 [1 favorite]


Is this a good place to share my own postpartum confinement experience? (Don't remember whether I've told this on this site before.)

My mom came to live with us and take care of me when we had our child ten years ago, and her help was invaluable to us first-time parents. She was pretty open-minded about American postpartum ways mostly, but the one thing she begged me not to do was taking a shower. ('It would ruin your joints for the rest of your life! Or you might start having migraines! My backpain was cured because I followed all the sitting month rules!') So we negotiated it to ten days of NO SHOWER.

The shower day came and it was bliss. But later disaster struck -- baby foe cried her little head off and wouldn't nurse at all! For the next two days, hands were wrung and brows were knit and sleep was lost and lactation consultants fervently sought.

It was not until a couple of years later that I had a-ha moment and realized that the shower must have changed my body smell and the baby (with no eyesight to speak of yet) probably couldn't recognize me post-shower.
posted by of strange foe at 2:44 PM on November 14, 2022 [11 favorites]


My husband loved to jokingly threaten me with Chinese postpartum confinement. I'm someone who wants to crawl out of my fcking skin if I don't get to shower every day and I haven't eaten meat since 1994, and throughout my pregnancies he'd try to "tempt" me with weeks of no bathing and pigs feet stew, and a mean old auntie type passive aggressively enforcing these restrictions in my house 24/7.

I did wish I had postpartum help, but boy, sometimes I'll take the disease over the cure. I took my first postpartum shower in the hospital after all three births and each time it felt like bliss washing off all the gunk of labor. I can't imagine having to leave the hospital and just stay sticky.
posted by potrzebie at 2:54 PM on November 14, 2022 [1 favorite]


My first grandchild was born last month. Daughter went to a birthing center, gave birth at 3AM, and was home by noon. I went out there to cook, shop, and do laundry for a few weeks after her husband went back to work. Not only does a postpartum breastfeeding woman eat like there's no tomorrow, she doesn't have time to do anything besides nurse and sleep. And she had appointments with her doctor, pediatrician, lactation consultant, WIC, and dentist. I don't understand how any woman does it without help.
posted by Miss Cellania at 2:57 PM on November 14, 2022 [2 favorites]


I can't imagine having to leave the hospital and just stay sticky.

I think in the old days it's much much stricter when it comes water cleaning*, for sure, but nowadays especially with hot water available the advice is adjusted - hot water cleaning is recommended and to dry yourself immediately (with hair dryer). You don't want the cold to catch - it'll interrupt your body's regulation with everything else.

*Like first gen Chinese here used to practice no bathing/showers in the morning (that fear of cold) with some holdovers still, while the native cultures or from similar climates like the Indians would have at least two shower/bath times a day. When I was a kid in less air-conditioned times, noon time shower is a must.
posted by cendawanita at 5:52 PM on November 14, 2022


One of things that was so awful about Mary I of England's married life was that she experienced all the symptoms of pregnancy and went into confinement in April 1555 in an elaborate ritual, expecting the baby to be 6 weeks away. And then there was no birth in May or June or July. She finally left confinement in August.

It's believed that Mary was either experiencing a false pregnancy and/or symptoms of ovarian cancer.

She had another false pregnancy a few years later, but never had a child.
posted by plonkee at 4:48 AM on November 17, 2022


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