I had a miscarriage and delivered my stillborn just before Christmas but would still need to do the necessary confinement, unfortunately. my mother had the same notions about not touching water, washing my hair etc. In fact, she said that she's now suffering from all the aches and pains because when she had me, she couldn't do the confinement for one reason or another. To be honest I don't know if some of her pains and aches are related as she has been working tirelessly until she retired.
I agree with
@loveholic that Singapore weather is just not ideal to stick to most of the confinement rules, even if you wanted to follow them to the tee. So this is what I have been doing for the past 2 weeks and I hope it can help any of you:
1. I take quick warm to almost hot showers every 2-3 days, rinsing my body with water without soap (personal choice) and quickly drying myself after. On other days when I don't shower, I use wet wipes to clean my body.
2. In the first week I was sensitive to cold so I was in sweat pants, hooded jacket, socks and house slippers (Crazy, i know).
3. By the end of the first week I was feeling better, so I ditched the hooded jacket and house slippers. I still wear socks as my flooring is terrazzo so it's constantly cold to the touch.
4. I wash my hair every 2-3 days (depending on weather) and use a hairdryer on them immediately after stepping out of the shower. I noticed that I get a slight headache when I don't dry them fast enough. I will be switching to dry shampoo soon as I can't stand the headaches. This is what I'm going for -
Acure Organics, Organic Dry Shampoo
5. I don't really take the chinese herbal medicinal food though I was given Essence of Chicken to take. Most of the time I stick to a lot of soup base dishes, vegetables, soy food and avoid fried and oily food (like Char Kuay Teow etc). Soon I will start on home-made smoothies.
6. To speed up my recovery and also for the long term health maintenance (husband and i hope to try for another baby soon), I take multivitamins,
evening primrose soft gels and
Reserve to boost my immunity. I don't have a good appetite, therefore would definitely lack in the necessary vitamins etc so I take supplements to fill in the gaps.
7. Even though I was told I couldn't have cold drinks, I drank cold milk once in a while because I was craving for it. Later on, I warm up milk in the microwave so that gets my mother off my back on cold drinks for a while. It made me feel better actually, having it warm. I sleep better, especially when I have a cup before bedtime.
8. When I have to wash dishes I use gloves, especially when I'm alone at home (my mother only stayed with me for 1.5 weeks). I don't wash any laundry by hand.
9. Lastly I eat a lot of chocolates (Toblerone to be exact)
Now I'm feeling much stronger and started to do very light exercises like stretching. However, I wouldn't recommend exercising so soon for all new mothers since my case is different; I don't have a newborn to lose sleep and energy over (though I very much wish I had).
I'd say, listen to your body and do what feels right and stop doing it if you feel slightly different or discomforted.