Malay Confinement Services

Among the Malay community in Malaysia, new mothers and babies are usually being taken care by their parents or parents-in-law during the confinement period. This is to take care of the new mothers’ health for their later life and to regain energy and overall recovery.  Today, as many Malay young couples are working in the city central and therefore no longer staying with their extended family in the village. As such, many of the new mothers in the city choose to be independent during their confinement period and would usually get the husband to help, or choose to hire the assistance of a confinement lady or nanny.

The Malays would often practice confinement for 44 days, but there are some Malays who practice up to 100 days of confinement. The standard postnatal dietary practice among the Malay community is eating freshwater fish such as snakehead. This is believed to speed up the inner healing of the mother body. Mackerel and seafood like shrimp and scallops should be avoided entirely from the diet during the confinement period as it can cause allergies and irritation. Similar to the Chinese and Indian community, cold foods such as cucumber, spinach, and sugar should be avoided because it will cause rheumatism, arthritis, and weak joints.

The process of birth giving has resulted in losing lots of blood in the mother body, and has made her body cool and tense. Postnatal care and massage will improve the blood circulation aimed to lift the womb, flatten the abdomen and breakdown the stubborn fat by performing the postnatal massage or urut, heat treatment (bertungku), wearing abdominal wrap (berbengkung), steam bath or spa (bertangas), etc.