Mama’s Chicken Soup for Postpartum | Ingredients & Herbs
In traditional Chinese medicine, the aim is to balance the flow of Qi which is the life force in all living things. During pregnancy and childbirth, a woman’s Qi and blood is depleted such that a new mom’s body is susceptible to illnesses. To heal, according to traditional Chinese medicine, the new mom needs to sleep, eat postpartum meals specially prepared by her mother or mother-in-law and feed her newborn, nothing else.
It is our intention to help new moms with a prepared postpartum meal in the form of our delicious and nourishing chicken soup specially formulated with Chinese herbs to aid in your postpartum recovery. Our chicken soup contains the following organic ingredients: chicken, onion, ginger, carrots, Chinese red dates and goji berries. This soup is naturally low in sodium and gluten free. In partnership with Emily Chui Acupuncture & Herbs, the following herbal formulations are infused into the chicken soup, and these were created for you for each week of postpartum.
WEEK 1 | BALANCE
After giving every part of yourself to your new baby and depleting your Qi and blood, the postpartum soup and herbs for the first week aims to bring balance back to your body by promoting circulation of your Qi and Blood. For lactating moms, this will also help as your breastmilk starts coming in and prevents engorgement while the body is coming back into balance.
Chai Hu (Bupleurum)
Ban Xia (Pinellia)
Bai Shao (Peony root)
Gan Cao (Chinese licorice)
Huang Qin (Skullcap)
Ren Shen (Chinese ginseng)
WEEK 2 | RESTORE
The herbs used for the second week focus on tonifying your Qi and Blood to replenish your Yang energy. In traditional Chinese medicine, within the human body there are manifestations of Yin and Yang. Yin finds expression in the more substantial, nurturing elements such as blood, fluids and organs while Yang is associated with energetic, warm and dynamic aspects.
The herb, Du Zhong is included to aid in restoring the uterus to its natural state as well as strengthen the backbones by restoring your Kidney Yang. This helps prevent postpartum lower back pain that may develop in the future, as the body is just starting to fully receive nourishment during this week.
For lactating moms, these herbs will also help gradually build up your milk supply per your baby’s needs.
Huang Qi (Astragalus root)
Du Zhong (Eucommia Bark)
Bai Shao (Peony root)
Dang Gui (Angelica root)
WEEK 3 | NOURISH
In the third week, we add a different set of warming herbs to continue to protect your body, support the healing of your reproductive system and for lactating moms, the herbs will continue to boost your milk supply.
Bai Shao (Peony root)
Dang Gui (Angelica root)
Gui Zhi (Cinnamon twig)
Huang Qi (Astragalus root)
Gan Cao (Chinese licorice)
WEEK 4 | REJUVENATE
In the fourth and last week, we continue to include warming herbs and start to transition to a more general herbal formula which balances and harmonizes the body by continuing to tonify your Qi and Blood for you and your baby.
Bai Shao (Peony root)
Bai Zhu (Atractylodis Rhizome)
Chuan Xiong (Sichuan lovage root)
Dang Gui (Angelica root)
Fu Ling (Poria)
Gan Cao (Chinese licorice)
Huang Qi (Astragalus root)
Ren Shen (Chinese ginseng)
Rou Gui (Cinnamon bark)
Sheng Di (Rhemannia root)
We hope you enjoy the healing and nourishment our soups with Chinese herbs can provide you.