By Cheong Pui Mun

Early this year, a video on a confinement lady vigorously shaking a newborn baby went viral on social media, raising concerns among netizens about the safety of leaving their children in the care of confinement ladies.

The said confinement lady worked at the family home and was employed to look after the newborn baby and mother.

Confinement ladies are popular in Malaysia especially among new mothers who employ their services to help look after newborns and cook nutritious food for both the mother and baby.

New mothers believe that they need to rest for a full month to restore their physical strength and to fully recover, they need to pay particular attention to their daily diet and eat food that contains a lot of ginger.

But, over the years, horror stories and case studies about confinement ladies have emerged, with many accused of abusing the children in their care when the parents are not around.

Confinement center

Ipoh Mummy Kitty Confinement Center manager Wong Shi Qing shares that being a nanny or confinement lady to newborn babies require a lot of patience as newborns are temperamental and need a lot of love and care.  

Wong shares that these carers also need to have certain skills in healthy food preparation and that they must put a high importance on babies’ personal hygiene.  

To equip them with such skills, Wong’s center trains these women.

“In our center, we provide three months’ training on how to prevent colic, spit up or burping for babies, apart from cooking skills and knowledge on nutrition.

“The confinement ladies are given a one month probation before they are hired by our center,” she said.

“Anyone who is interested to become a confinement lady will be screened,” Wong added when asked how the center decides on the women’s suitability for the work.

Unfortunately, not all centers conduct such strict vetting on their confinement ladies in spite of a seven per cent increase on the demand for such services since last year.

A personal experience

Tasha Oh, who recently stayed at a confinement center after having her first child, said she considered a few factors such as the center’s reputation and the confinement ladies’ knowledge and experiences when she was considering various centers.  

“During the confinement month, it is important that new mothers rest as much as they can without any worries so that they can recuperate faster,” Oh said

“The cost of staying at a confinement center is  slightly higher than hiring a private nanny,” she said.

For 28 days, she paid RM9,000 at the center. Sometimes, the amount could be more.

Reducing child abuse

Psychologist Ho Yoon Hua said looking after children is a stressful task, which explains why some hired nannies end up abusing the child in their care.  

From lack of sleep to feeling impatient and tired, nannies could end up abusing children when they reach breaking point.  

Ipoh Mummy Kitty Confinement Center manager Wong Shi Qing said when hiring, she prefers women who are already married or those who have children as they are more experienced in handling babies and have proven to be more patient.

“Of course, loving babies is an added bonus,” she said.

In Taiwan, women have to go through proper training and attend classes to become licensed confinement ladies.

While confinement centers in Malaysia have come up with their own requirements when hiring confinement ladies, the government should perhaps look into following the footsteps of Taiwan to help prevent the abuse of children.

Cheong Pui Mun is a student journalist and is pursuing her 3+0 Bachelor of Communication from University of Southern Queensland Australia at Han Chiang College.