#045. Stinky Postpartum Herbs and a Gesture of My Love (Sheng Hua Tang Formula)
My cousin had a baby! And I was part of her labor/delivery!
Last Thursday, I witnessed my nephew being born. Just wow. The miracle of life is everything as epic as they say. As a first time doula, I imagine the majesty of all of it will only be eclipsed when I have my own labor and delivery experience. I even got to cut the umbilical cord! Yes, it really does have the texture of calamari.
Shortly after staying up all night for birth shenanigans, my innate Chinese cultural programming kicked in - it was time to nourish the new mama with the language of food! In Traditional Chinese Medicine, before any tonics (such as Ginger Vinegar Pork Feet) are given to the new mother, the uterus must be “cleaned out,” and the milk must come in.
“Cleaning the Uterus”
“Cleaning out the uterus” means what it sounds like. Biologically, the womb needs to prepare for future pregnancies. So in the first 4-6 weeks postpartum, the uterus will attempt to expel any remaining mucus, tissue, and blood clots. Then the uterine lining will regenerate and the uterus will gradually shrink back to its pre-pregnancy state. The scientific name for this whole process is “Uterine involution”.
“Uterine involution involves the contraction of the uterus, sloughing of the caruncles and regeneration of the endometrium (Gier and Marion, 1968). Complete uterine involution can be observed when the size of the uterus shrinks to its pre-gravid state.” (Hussain and Daniel, 1991).
Chinese cultures refer to these forty-ish days post-partum as, “坐月子 Zuo4Yue1Zi” or “Sitting the Moon.” The practice is also known as the “Confinement.” Literally, because back in ancient times they would confine women after childbirth, with good intentions of course. Before water boilers, heaters, and hot water, a woman was particularly susceptible to both acute and chronic illnesses during this recovery period.
A woman who had a “good confinement” period was alleged to retain her youthful beauty and energy, “have more babies”, and an easy menopause. Consequently, a host of postpartum practices (and superstitions) developed.
Sheng Hua Tang, an alternative baby shower gift
In the past few years, all my friends decided to get hitched and pop out babies. I struggled with what to get people for the baby shower gifts. I wished my brain could just “buy a gift” and call it a day, but instead it thinks about how quickly babies grow out of their stuff, the environmental impact, and of course “What about” the new mama!
I wanted to support the new mom during a time when everyone is focused on baby. So that’s how I started making Sheng Hua Tang.
Sheng Hua Tang is a traditional Chinese formula often used during the first month after childbirth to help with uterus recovery. Benefits include:
Helps to replenish and nourish blood
Improve blood circulation
To expel lochia after birth
Helps postpartum uterine contractions
Helps to prevent blood clots
“Does it really work?”
I’m not sure how they got these cows to drink these stinky herbs, but these cow studies showed better uterine involution and fewer incidents of retained placentas.
On the human front, this study showed a positive correlation with Sheng Hua Tang and uterine involution. Another study showed self-reports of higher health-related quality of life for women who took Sheng Hua Tang compared to those who did not. Important to note that this increase in QOL was only present for the first month of use and decreased after the first month.
I also want to note that confinement practices and formulas such as Sheng Hua Tang likely originate in the Western Han dynasty about 2,000 years ago. Just one of many post-partum nutritional formulas and recipes in 黃帝內經 Huang Di Nei Jing, a classical Traditional Chinese Medicine text that is OLD AF.
While merely surviving the test of time is not a parameter of how effective something is, I’m guessing thousands of years of trial-and-error on millions of women probably played a part in the development and refinement of this formula into something with a significant p-value. A conversation on the ethics of that for another day.
Cautions and Contraindications
In the end, Sheng Hua Tang is an herbal formula for medicinal use, and so it should only be used when indicated.
Sheng Hua Tang should be avoided in the case of hemorrhaging and excessive bleeding. In the case of C-Section, the dose should be modified, reduced, or avoided depending on the individual.
Postpartum uterine involution is a process that varies from woman-to-woman and understanding the birth experience is necessary for an appropriate post-partum recovery plan.
For the formula itself, I consulted the White Pine Institute and American Dragon to understand its variations, but in the end used this formula from Nannysos.com. My reasoning is that they are a postpartum nanny service in Singapore, so my assumption is that they prefer formulas that are broad actionable in different situations and scalable. I hope to be able to find something similar for myself in the future.
Sheng Hua Tang Formulai (Generating and Transforming Decoction, aka Post Childbirth Womb Tonic)
Use during week 1-2 to expel lochia, stop pain, and improve blood circulation
Contraindication: Do not use if hemorrhaging or excessive bleeding.
Caution: C-section.
Ingredients:
4g Fried Ginger (Pao Jiang, 炮姜)
6g Roasted Licorice Root (Zhi Gan Cao, 炙甘草)
10g Chinese Angelica (Dang Gui, 当归)
10g Carthamus Tinctorius (Cao Hong Hua, 草红花)
10g Semen Persicae (Guang Tao Ren, 光桃仁)
10g Lovage Root (Chuan Xiong, 川芎)
Cooking Method:
Wash herbs, then soak in 750ml water (or rice wine) for 30min. (I used my fancy Chinese electric kettle cooker thing so I didn’t have to mind the stove so frequently.)
Boil herbs with soaked water until 200ml left and save for later.
Add another 750ml water in herbs to boil for 2nd time until 200ml is left.
Mix 2 bowls of 200ml herbal soup together.
Drink AM and PM after food.
I most recently delivered several packets of these over to my cousin, who’s Dad took charge of the Decoction process. It was sweet to watch, and something about the stinky herbs calms my brain. When it’s my turn to drink this stinky tea, I’ll report back on how I feel and take some before and after pictures. That’s all folks!
Stinky tea 😆 I just had the last of a big batch of red date tonic I made earlier this week. Angelica root, Goji, mulberry and red dates of course. Thanks TCM :)
Incredible the experience must have been to be a doula ❤️
This essay will be a golden reference for years to come for all my post-partum friends