Not a mother here...and not Chinese either...but of Western culture...so what I say is my opinion and mine alone.

I don't think hygiene is anything to mess with around a newborn. Can you imagine a female surgeon who just had a baby, NOT bathing for the sake of tradition at her next surgery? The human body, as an adult, can withstand many more germs than a newborn baby can. We create and come in contact with zillions of germs on a daily basis. If we don't wash...we'll catch something and/or pass it along to anyone we come in contact with. If we happen to catch a cold (for example), we can use precautions to prevent spreading it to another. We can wash our hands often, not sneeze into our hands, don't shake hands with another person (or in the case of a baby, don't touch the baby's hands or eyes or nose without washing first...so the baby won't touch it's own eyes with it's hands or come in contact with our germs). It's not the worst thing in the world for us (as adults) to catch a cold...but if we don't bathe and we DO get a cold or virus, we'll almost surely pass it along to the baby...who's body hasn't formed the immunities to fight it as well as we can.

In essence...I think a woman would be MORE at risk in getting sick if she didn't wash than if she did. It seems that the Chinese have some old wives tales too (we have several in the Western culture)...and if you check with more modern Chinese woman, and experts in the medical field, I think you'll find this to be just that...an old wives tale!

Also...in some cultures...a woman would work in a field and just at the time of childbirth, go to seclusion...have the baby on her own...clean herself up and the baby as well...strap it to her back and go back to the fields to work again. I don't recommened it...but it's been known to happen.

Having a baby, unless there are complications, doesn't make us the gentle flower that was once thought. If the pregnancy was normal...and the delivery was normal...and the baby and yourself don't develope any complications...a woman can be back to her old self (pre-pregnancy) in a matter of days. The bleeding that follows the birth is normal for a few weeks, maybe, but the body is already changing back to what it was before the pregnancy. It's a misnomer to think that pregnancy makes the woman "frail". Our bodies were meant to do that job and we've done it well...generation after generation. Yes, there are complicated pregnancies and these cases need "special" treatment. But for the most part...you get pregnant, you stay that way for 9+ months, you deliver the baby, you bond (bonding has been proven to make a baby feel safer and happier in it's first hours/days/weeks/months after the birth), and then you're off...to raise the baby you planned to have and care for!

Times have changed CP! You said it yourself with the green tea statement. It took us (Western culture) a while to realize the healing properties of it...and it might take the "old time" Chinese culture a while to realize just how strong and smart and healthy and caring the new mother really is!

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Minds are like parachutes. They only work when they are open.

~Thomas Dewar~