How can Auntie Ah Tai help and what are her services?

Auntie Ah Tai does the following for baby:

• Daily baths and massages for baby
• Regular diaper changes
• Baby's laundry
• Feeding baby (if you express your breastmilk into bottles)
• Burping baby
• Soothing baby to sleep and swaddling baby
• Sterilizing baby's bottles and pacifier
• Ensuring baby is happy, healthy and comfortable (and keeping the parents informed if she notices anything unusual about baby)

For the mother, Auntie Ah Tai will:

• Cook confinement recipe foods for breakfast, lunch and dinner for the mother (and enquire if the mother would like a mid-morning snack and mid-afternoon tea)
• Prepare herbal double-boiled soups to nourish the mother
• Remind the mother to take her vitamins, supplements, medication, etc.
• Prepare herbal water for daily bath
• Launder mother's clothes
• Help mother to sterilize breast pump and bottles
• Prepare a shopping list for the father to buy fresh ingredients for the mother's meals

Basically, Auntie Ah Tai's role will be to care for the mother and baby. If you require her to cook your husband's meals as well, you would need to inform her. Similarly if you need her to cook for others in the family, she will need to be informed and she will charge extra fees. It is not her responsibility to care for the baby's older siblings (during the confinement month, most families get the grandparents or babysitters to care for older siblings during the day, and the father will care for them in the evenings).

Note (post-confinement month): I've just finished my confinement month. And gosh, the first night without Auntie Ah Tai was, to say the least, one of the toughest things I've done. Which is why I'm writing this little note to remind all new mothers that they should try to care as much as possible for their baby during the confinement month - don't leave it all to the confinement lady. A good and capable confinement lady like Auntie Ah Tai is a blessing as she is so good with everything - but when she leaves, gosh, you find that you don't really know how to care for your baby! So, take time during the confinement month (at least the last 2 weeks of your confinement, after you've recovered) to learn the ropes of caring for your precious newborn.