Inclusiveness In Childbirth And Postnatal Care

A cosy home away from home is usually associated with travelling to another place for a holiday. You can imagine an idyllic setting for relaxing and where you and your loved ones are well cared for. Here, a home away from home is designed as a service when welcoming your newborn member into the family. This is what evolving childbirth care centres are starting to offer and aims to achieve. The term childbirth care is typically only for the mothers and baby. But postnatal or postpartum specialists seek to change the landscape of the postnatal scene.

Childbirth: Postnatal Passion Through Experience

Amenities and living areas at evolving childbirth care centres are aiming for designs for the entire family to come together. Not just for the mother and baby. A lot of fathers these days are very actively involved in the postnatal period.

SuLing Wong, who is a postnatal specialist provides such a service. This approach was born through her own experience when she delivered her twins a few years ago. Her husband was very hands-on during her entire postpartum period. However, they found that the childbirth care centres in general were not able to provide the necessary space and support to include her husband’s participation in the process.

Most childbirth care services still cater exclusively for the mother and baby. This is probably due to the fact that, in the Asian culture, customs and traditions are very rooted in the postnatal process. Hence why very often fathers and older siblings are sidelined during the postnatal process. Through no fault of their own, they remain passive as to what goes on that first few pivotal months.

Making Health A Family Affair

“Childbirth care is and should be a family affair,” says SuLing. There might be a question of the purpose of a father or even older siblings in the postnatal period. SuLing emphasises that their roles are very important in the emotional well-being of the entire family as a whole. Not just the mother.

“The mother and newborn are definitely the main focus. These two are the ones who are in need of actual physical care. But the emotional and mental care for the family collectively as a whole should be made a priority,” she says.

SuLing, founder of twin c postnatal consultancy & care

Postnatal At Your Own Home

After all, shouldn’t a home be the place to be for new parents and siblings? SuLing has an answer for this too. She says mothers opt for confinement centres for the one-stop postnatal care package they provide. The list of services are extensive. SuLing, together with her expert staff, carefully plans and cooks all the herbal meals they offer. Healing baths and massages for mother and baby, breastfeeding coaching and a whole lot more are provided for.

SuLing says many mothers come to her simply because they needed a place where the husband and older siblings can bond. Back in their own home, the temptation to revert to their own routines is there. A routine that does not involve the new member or the fragile mother. This is through no fault of their own. It is just convenient to go about their own lives and leave the newborn and mother to their own devices.

Furthermore, it would be a tall order for new parents to transform their home into a temporary confinement area. It would be physically exhausting as well for them to maintain this standard all throughout the mothers’ postpartum period.

At SuLing’s, her team strives to coach the father as well as siblings to stick around and be active participants in the care of their newborn and mother. They continuously encourage the family to be together and be hands-on towards the changes that are happening to them.

Men And Women’s Roles In Childbirth Care

Over the decades, we’ve witnessed tremendous changes in the roles that men and women play in many areas. Areas where we either never saw men or women participate actively are now gender-free. One of the most championed causes recently that have laymen, celebrities and the like standing for the equality in the workforce, salaries and percentage of profits.

Women over the decades have emerged as strong leaders or income earners for the household. This brought about a dramatic shift in the household as men began to play very active roles in the matters of the house. SuLing says that many of her client fathers do take active interest about matters of their newborns and have the desire to get their hands ‘dirty’.

She does add that most new parents would understandably be surprised by this new concept of inclusive childcare. There is a steep learning curve as she seeks to educate new parents to include the fathers and older siblings in the confinement care. However, as they go through confinement period together under SuLing’s loving care and her expert staff, they began to see exactly what she is advocating for. All of them eventually buy into the fact that fathers and siblings should also be actively included in the postnatal care.

Paternity Care

The subject of equality still leans very much towards matters of the female gender. This might be one of the main reasons why matters such as paternity leaves, time-off work and single father classes and infrastructure have been long overlooked. Equality for men in the domestic scene should be a cause to champion. Take paternity leave for example.

There is currently no laws for the private sector in Malaysia for even a few days off work for new fathers. In the government sector however, fathers get seven days paternity leave. As the women cover more ground in the working world, men are also covering more ground in the home front. Since this is so, then these issues in the legal and working field should be justifiably championed.

More On Twin C Postnatal Consultancy & Care

The living space at Twin C offers a very wide range of amenities beside the extensive postpartum care for mother and postnatal care for the newborn.

• Living space is private, not shared with other families.
• Tight security (even for visitors).
• CCTV surveillance in baby’s room.
• One-on-one breastfeeding coaching.
• Extensive diet and nutrition consultation to suit the various needs of clients.
• All day WiFi.
• Nurses and Traditional Chinese Medicine practitioners on standby.
• A comfortable living room for the family to hang out and just be together.
• A modest and stocked kitchen, complete with appliances and simple groceries.

SuLing and team are pro-breastfeeding advocates as well. Although formula milk is placed on standby, every effort is made to successfully encourage mothers to breastfeed their newborns. Visit their website or Facebook page for more information or to contact them for packages and pricing.

What happens as the Coronavirus pandemic hit the globe in the year 2020 and people are ordered to be confined in their own homes? Read all about what new parents have to go through as they welcome their newborns in the midst of the pandemic.