Postpartum confinement

Postpartum confinement

Postpartum confinement refers to a traditional practice following childbirth. Those who practice it typically begin immediately after the birth, and it lasts for a culturally variable length: typically for one month or 30 days, up to 40 days, two months or 100 days.[1] This postnatal recuperation can include “traditional health beliefs, taboos, rituals, and proscription.” 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.

The custom is well-documented in China, where it is known as “Sitting the month”. Japanese women know it as “Sango no hidachi” and Koreans as “Samchilil“, which means “twenty-one”. In Latin American countries it is called la cuarentena, i.e. “forty days” (the source of the English word “quarantine”). In India, it is called jaappa (also transliterated japa).