中国妈妈的坐月子

原作者：
来源For Chinese Moms, Birth Means 30 Days In Pajamas
译者iceseow

版权归Andrea Hsu/NPR所有

北京巍格监护中心，一对年轻的夫妻吴莉莉（音）和墨史伟（音）正抱着他们的宝宝默默（音）。吴莉莉正在经历传统的中国式产后恢复，“坐月子”。坐月子时妈妈们不能外出，不能洗头和洗澡，只能吃一些特定的食物。摄影：AndreaHsu/NPR

巍格中心为妈妈们提供豪华的环境和全天候的护理服务。自从来到中心，吴莉莉和她的宝宝就没出过房门。她不能洗澡，只能用海绵擦拭身子。

一个护士抱着小默默。巍格中心的护士都有至少一年医院工作经验。中心实行的是8小时和12小时换班制。

护士用娃娃做示范，教这对年轻夫妻怎么给孩子按摩和换尿片。

巍格中心位于北京一栋豪华公寓内。这里提供住宿、每天6餐和全天候护理服务，一天需花费500美元。

这是张贴在在巍格中心接待处墙上的照片，里面有所有经过照顾的宝宝的照片。它的客户都是收入不菲的中国家庭，也有一些嫁给外国人的中国妈妈来这里护理。

Imagine not being allowed to go outside, have a shower or drink cold water for an entire month. It might sound like a kind of house arrest. But every year tens of millions of Chinese women submit to this willingly. This is the traditional Chinese practice of confinement during the month after childbirth, with some modern twists.

Baby Momo and his mother, Wu Lili, haven't left the three rooms of an apartment in Beijing for 29 days now. It's the last day of their traditional 30-day confinement period.

把镜头转向北京的一套三居室的房子内，吴莉莉和她刚出生的宝宝默默在整整29天里，没有踏出过房门半步，等到过了今天才能出门走动。

In Chinese, this is literally called "sitting the month," as new mothers are pretty much expected to just sit around in pajamas for a month to recover from childbirth. But there are a lot of rules, and Wu Lili is struggling with them — even though she's on her very last day.

在中国，人们把这种习俗称作“坐月子”。为了恢复分娩所消耗的精力，妈妈们穿着宽敞的睡衣在家里呆着，哪儿也不去。不过即使是“呆着”，也有诸多限制——比如前文提到的不准洗澡，不准喝凉水。尽管这已经是她月子的最后一天，但是想起此前吴莉莉仍然很无奈。

"I really want to eat fruit and the other things I'm not allowed to eat, like snacks," Wu says.

“很多我想吃的东西我都不能吃，比如水果和零食。”她说道。

The first thing is that you can't wash. The second thing is that the food is so bland. But you really have to persist, and it's very difficult.——Wu Lili

“第一大困难是不准洗澡，第二大则是吃得平淡无味。但是没办法，你还是得坚持下来。”

——吴莉莉

She's not allowed to eat raw fruit or vegetables, or drink coffee, cold drinks or even cold water, which can only be drunk tepid or hot. These rules are aimed at restoring balance to the new mother's body after childbirth. But Wu has had enough.

这一个月来，吴莉莉不能吃水果或者生蔬菜，不能喝咖啡、饮料，甚至连凉水也不可以，只能喝温水或热水。虽然这为了更好地调养身体，但是她表示自己已经受够了。

"It's really the hardest thing to bear about confinement," she says. "The first thing is that you can't wash. The second thing is that the food is so bland. But you really have to persist, and it's very difficult."

“坐月子实在是太难熬了，”她说道，“第一个大困难是不准洗澡，第二则是吃得平淡无味。但是没办法，你还是得坚持下来。”

Her feet, she says, are boiling, as she plods around in thick woolen socks and padded slippers. But she must guard against getting a chill; Chinese doctors warn that could lead to joint problems or illness later on.

即使她脚热得不行，但还是得穿着厚厚的羊毛袜子和棉拖鞋，以防受到凉气的侵害；医生告诉她如果不这么做，以后可能会导致关节出问题或是患上其他病症。

"Sitting the month," or zuo yuezi, is deeply embedded in Chinese culture. It was even mentioned in the 2,000-year-old Book of Changes, or I-ching, according to Zhao Zixiang, Wu's doctor of traditional Chinese medicine.

坐月子已经深深地植入了中国的文化之中。负责吴莉莉的中医医生赵子祥（音）说，2000年前的易经里就已经提到过坐月子了。

"Chinese people are most concerned about balancing yin and yang, in all things," he says. "If the yin and yang in your body are balanced, you won't get sick. If they're out of balance, it's easy to get sick."

“中国人强调阴阳平衡，”他说，“如果体内的阴阳平衡了，那就代表着没有病患。如果失衡了，则容易患病。”

When little Momo wails, a nurse swoops in to take control, wheeling the baby off to another room.

这时默默突然大哭了起来，一个护士赶忙把他推到另一个房间。

Wu is "sitting the month" as only China's newly rich can. Instead of being at home, she went straight from the hospital to a superluxury confinement center that costs around $500 a day. That buys peace of mind: 24-hour-a-day supervision from trained nurses; a nutritionist; doctors on call to diagnose every baby sniffle; and someone ensuring that the rules are followed at all times — not just by the new mother but by her extended family too.

吴莉莉的坐月子方式并不是大多数人都能享受得起的。严格意义上来说她坐月子并不是在家里，而是在一家医院的超豪华监护中心，每天花费达500美元。500美元的投入换来的是清净的环境、全天候专业级护理、营养学家的专门调理、一名随时待命的医生。医院保证妈妈们和家人们都能享受到以上待遇。

EnlargeAndrea Hsu/NPR

摄影：Andrea Hsu/NPR

A nurse tends to baby Momo at the Weige Center in Beijing. The center provides luxury accommodation and 24-hour nursing staff to new mothers who participate in the Chinese tradition of "sitting the month," where they don't go outside or bathe for 30 days.

一个护士抱着小默默。巍格中心为妈妈们坐月子提供豪华环境和全天候护理服务。

"My mum thinks it's a pity that she can't come in every day to cuddle my baby," Wu says, enumerating the reasons she's been given for this by the center's experts. "It's not very good for the development of newborn baby's bones to be cuddled too much. We don't want him being held too much as he might become too dependent. I pretty much only hold him when I nurse him."

“我妈不能每天过来抱孙子，她觉得挺遗憾，”吴莉莉在列举来监护中心的原因时说道，“其实抱得太频繁对宝宝的骨质发育并不好。我们希望少抱一些，这样宝宝就会更独立。我照顾孩子的时候也只是扶着他而已。”

And the rules governing diet are stricter still. At this postpartum center, six meals a day are prepared off-site, including a host of special soups, designed to increase the new mothers' milk supply. Typical fare is a soup of pig's feet and peanuts, or an oily carp soup, drunk directly after childbirth, which is supposed to stimulate the milk supply to begin.

在监护中心，对于妈妈们的饮食要求更加严格。中心每天提供6顿餐，包括特别煨制的汤，其中一般是猪蹄花生羹和奶油玉米羹，都是用于刺激妈妈们的奶水，增加每天的产奶量的。

Such postpartum centers are popping up in cities across China. But the founder of this center, Ren Weige, says it's as high-end as they go.

现在在中国，这种类似的产后监护中心正如雨后春笋般兴起。其创始者任·薇格说，他们走得是高端路线。

"It's impossible that the environment could be more luxurious than this," she says. "We're in a five-star serviced apartment. My [caregivers] are all trained nurses. Whatever way you look at it, either from the software or the hardware, this is already the best that it could be."

“你很难找到像这么豪华的环境，”她说，“我们的监护中心是五星级的，护士们都经过了专业训练。无论是从软件方面还是硬件方面，我们都是最好的。”

That even means that new mothers are hand-washed by two nurses, who wipe them down with washcloths steeped in Chinese medicine about once a week. They're not supposed to bathe for 30 days following childbirth, but the strictures of traditional confinement are being bent to the needs of modern women. Some argue that this new generation of Chinese mothers — who, as part of the generation of only children under the one-child policy, have not grown up with younger brothers or sisters — need help more than ever before.

我们来看一下监护中心内的场景，就知道她言非所虚了：妈妈们连洗手都有两名护士伺候着，用的是浸泡过中药的毛巾，每周一次。虽然整整30天不能洗澡，但是传统正渐渐向现代观念屈服。因为中国新一代的妈妈们是计划生育的产物，是家里的独苗，所以她们理应受到更好的待遇。

"They're kids themselves," says the center's pediatrician, Zhang Jianna. "They don't really know how to look after kids. So they have even more demands. They're just happy that someone knows what to do."

“她们本身就还是孩子，”监护中心的儿科医生张建娜（音）说，“她们不知道该如何去照顾小孩。有了这种需求，如果有人来指导她们那自然很受欢迎。”

A nurse is even teaching Wu Lili how to sing lullabies to little Momo, though halfway through the new mom gives up. At this postpartum center, paid nurses show the new mothers what to do, rather than their own mothers or aunties. And the center has tweaked some of the stricter rules, such as the prohibition on washing.

吴莉莉甚至还需要护士来教她唱摇篮曲给小默默听，不过学了一半她就放弃了。监护中心里，教妈妈们的是护士，而不是她们的长辈。这里的要求也并不是那么严格，妈妈们可以洗漱。

But despite China's warp speed modernization, the age-old practice of "sitting the month" is still flourishing among its young — and making money for its entrepreneurs.

中国经济的高速发展并不能抹去坐月子习俗的印记，年轻一代的观念并未受到冲击——也并未停止投入高额的花费。

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