KUCHING: The newly established post-natal care service centre, Blessing Care Centre at Jalan Chawan here plays a vital role as a resort centre to pamper new mothers in urban areas who are away from their traditional families.
Welfare, Community Wellbeing, Women, Family and Childhood Development Minister Datuk Seri Fatimah Abdullah said the centre catalyses a holistic care environment for new mothers in the city to adapt to the drastic changes that may cause anxiety and gloom.
“Many new mothers experience hormonal changes after delivering their babies. Some women would feel down, tearful or anxious in the first week of giving birth. This is often called the “baby blues” and it is considered normal and will not last more than two weeks, “she said when declaring open the care centre yesterday.
Touching on the shortage of confinement service providers, Fatimah explained that the family structure and the lifestyles among city mothers had changed nowadays.
“Nowadays we are having more younger mothers –certainly a good sign for the growth of our country.
“The family structure had changed. In my time, we lived in an extended family where parents, in-laws and relatives were around to become our support system.
“Some mothers have to go back to kampung to give birth or for confinement,” she explained, adding the provided centre helps to assist new mothers to have their confinement with extra care.
The extra care, according to Fatimah, is important for mothers who have just delivered babies as to heal the mother’s wound.
“Without extra care, mothers could easily fall into post-natal depression, ” she reminded.
Citing the current ratio of 1 mother: 10 women suffer depression every year, Fatimah urged mothers to seek medical help if they experience the symptoms.
“The symptoms such as persistent feeling of sadness, lack of energy, difficulty bonding with the baby, withdrawing from contact with other people and frightening thoughts.
“Some may feel lonely and distress, but continuous support and effective treatment will help to cure depression,” Fatimah stressed.
Further, she shared her experience during confinement in those days where there were many taboos imposed by her parents, from food to activity such as to have proper shower.
“Confinement month was then superstitious. My mother was strict as she controlled me to not eat cold foods such as watermelon.
“In fact, there was one time when I was a teacher back then, I was asked to mark students’ exam paper during confinement, ” Fatimah recalled her fond memories.
With the new policy of welfare formed for mothers today, she expressed mothers should appreciate the three months maternity leave for bonding time with their newly born babies.
“Now, mothers can enjoy three-months maternity leave to have a proper bonding time with their babies.
This is exclusively for mothers to carry out their best time for breastfeeding with the help of professional teams at the centre as long as they can afford and able to produce the milk,” she said.
Fatimah also hoped that the centre will help her ministry in promoting breast-feeding, especially in helping first-time mothers who may not yet be comfortable with it.
She also called upon new mothers to register their babies for its endowment fund, an initiative pioneered by the state government.
