Terms and statement

How to read this material

How to read this material: these are eating habits from Hong Kong households, and they are worth having simply as good, nourishing home cooking. Where the tradition makes a claim we record it as a claim the tradition makes, not as medical advice and not as a course of treatment to complete. What suits your body, and whose advice you take, is between you and your own care team.

Please read these

• Ordinary balanced eating is enough after a birth. The Hong Kong Department of Health's position is 並不需要刻意進補 — there is no need to deliberately take tonics. Misused tonics have caused postpartum haemorrhage and raised blood pressure.
• Several traditional dishes contain alcohol, and the alcohol does not cook off. Australian advice (NHMRC) is that not drinking is safest while breastfeeding, and nobody should share a sleep surface with a baby after drinking.
• Pork liver dishes carry very high vitamin A. One ordinary serving can exceed the daily upper limit, which is why this site gives no serving figure for them.
• 生化湯 is a herbal medicine, not a soup. It should only come from a registered practitioner who knows your history. A serious bleeding case has been reported after it.
• Some herbs affect bleeding, and some affect milk supply. 麥芽 in quantity reduces supply. Where a dish carries one of these, its page says so.
• Where the tradition and current medical advice disagree — washing, cooling a room in an Australian summer, staying in bed — this site records both and leaves the choice with you and your care team.
• Only about 27% of breastfeeding mothers tell their doctor they are using traditional remedies. Please tell yours.

Information only. This page records a food tradition and is not medical advice. Recovery differs for everyone. If you are breastfeeding, recovering from a caesarean, taking medication, or feeling unwell, speak to your doctor, midwife or a registered practitioner first.