What does a typical day look like?

A typical day may vary from one mother to another. However, just to give you an idea, below is a brief summary of what my typical day is like:

• 7.00am : Mother wakes up, drinks a cup of red dates tea (a flask of it is permanently by the bedside table next to my mug, ready to drink whenever I want) and downs So Hup pills.
• 8.00am : Breakfast is served. It's usually soup or fried noodles, or fried rice. (On my 18th day, I managed to convince Auntie Ah Tai to make French toast for me with a cup of Milo oats - so yummy!)
• 9.00am : Auntie Ah Tai bathes and massages for baby, then lets baby have play time with the mother.
• 10.00am : Auntie Ah Tai will ask if the mother is hungry. If she is, she'll get some biscuits or mix a Milo drink for her.
• 12.00noon : Lunch time! This is usually rice with dishes such as meat, vege and a soup.
• 1.30pm : Auntie Ah Tai prepares the herbal bath water for mother. (The belief is that the mother should bathe or wipe down during the hottest time of the day - anytime between 11am to 3pm).
• 3.00pm : Mid-afternoon snack - Auntie Ah Tai usually cooks red bean soup for tea, it's apparently a good milk booster.
• 3.30pm : Mother takes a nap. Auntie Ah Tai usually naps too around this time, after folding laundry.
• 4.30pm : Baby takes evening bath. Mummy plays with baby again after that.
• 6.00pm : Dinner is served. Rice with dishes and soup.
• 9.00pm : Supper - usually a herbal soup or Milo with oats. Wind down for the night.

Not mentioned above are the times Auntie Ah Tai feeds the baby - usually every 2 hourly. And the regular diaper changes and soothing of baby to sleep, especially during the night. In between, the mother also does regular pumping of breast milk or direct feeding of breast milk to the baby, depending on how baby is fed.

However, please note that not every mother will have the same schedule. Some mothers who are directly latching their babies to suckle will have a different schedule than above. The schedule then will run around baby's feed-on-demand schedule, which is not a fixed schedule.