Pathiya Samayal (Balanced diet food after delivery)
Disclaimer:
I would like to clearly mention here that this is purely my knowledge of Balanced diet after delivery and not a common practice around all places in world. The method of taking care of the new born baby and delivered mother, the vegetables, recipes are purely my version.
Preparation for Delivery:
From 9 month of pregnancy, daily, the mother should massage the hip and stomach of the pregnant women with gingelly oil and should gently massage it with warm water.
There may be many chances for a pregnant lady to deliver a baby before the due date. So in 9 month itself, we should prepare ourselves to take all the necessary things for the delivery. Things like, night dress, flask, changing dress, inners, dress for the babies, towel, comb, etc should be taken in a separate bag. We can call this as a labour bag.
When the pregnant woman gets pain, we can check whether it is a false pain or labour pain using cumin seeds kashayam. Take 1 teaspoon of cumin seeds and and dry fry in a pan, add 1.5 cups of water to it and allow the water to become ½ cup. Give this to the pregnant women. If it is a false pain, then the pain will go off. If it is a real labour pain, this kashayam will make the pain develop further. This is the correct time to start to the hospital. All set to go.
After Delivery:
With God’s Grace the child is born. Mother and baby are fine. Please follow the doctor’s advice with respect to food and other things till the new born and the new mother are in hospital. After returning home, we can start the pathiya samayal.
In olden days, when I was young, for the new mother, the elderly women in house will steam cook idly’s and give only 4 idly’s to her. Mother or elderly women in the house cook idly for the new mother and pour 1 teaspoon of ghee over the idlies and serve with little sugar. For the lunch, it is pathiya samayal and for dinner it is only Parboiled rice porridge(puzhungal arisi kanji) with manathakali vathal fried in ghee along with narthangai pickle or sutta appalam. This is the balanced diet for the first 10 days after delivery. Sukku water will be given for the new mother. We have to take sukku(dry ginger) and make it a powder and mix it with hot water and give it to the new mother. Also, all the 3 times when the mother have the food, they will be given betel leaves. She has to eat the betel leaves before she feed the baby after food. Betel leaves are good for digestion.
Punniyajalam:
On the 11th day, we call it as kulimurai. We have to keep ready gingelly oil, ginger and pepper. Heat the gingelly oil and to it add ginger powder, pepper and remove from flame.
Take a Winnowing basket(In tamil we call as Muram) and put kolam in it. Keep this near pooja room and place a silk cloth over the winnow. First using the gingelly oil we prepared, bath the baby. Wipe the baby with a towel and put a new dress and place the baby on the winnow. Elderly woman in the house has to first take the baby from the winnow.
Then we have to call the delivered mother, and take the gingelly oil and need to massage the hair, stomach, and hip. Bath her with hot water and massage the hip nicely. Use sheeyakaai powder and wash the hair. Also apply turmeric powder to the whole body. After bath, wipe the hair and body completely and give her new clothes. Then immediately give her sukku(dry ginger powder) with jaggery. Also give her little salt with raw rice and ask her to eat. In the mean time, take a spatula/slotted spoon and heat at the end and ask the new mother to squeeze mother’s milk into the heated portion of the spatula/slotted spoon using both the breasts. Take care while squeezing as the spatula/spotted spoon is hot. We should hear a ‘zzz’ sound when the breast milk touches the hot region of spatula. Then the new mother can take the new born baby and feed the baby.The same procedure has to be repeated on 15, 18, and 21st day after the child birth. Based on the delivery whether it is normal/c-section, we can arrange for a punniyajalam/naming ceremony.
The above said tradition may differ for each families. I have given this based on my knowledge.
Now I am going to start with the Balanced Diet(Pathiya Samayal) Recipes.
Pathiya samayal is a special cooking after delivery. Whenever a mother give birth to a child, especially in south india, elderly women in house will prepare pathiya samayal for the women who gave birth to the child. This is to ensure that the delivered mother gets healthy dish which will reach the child through her milk. Pathiya samayal is a well balanced nutrition rich food for the new mom’s. It is believed that this pathiya samayal will increase the supply of breast milk.
The first 45 days period after delivery is crucial for any mother because whatever she is eating will have direct effect on the new born child. So mother has to be very cautious in her intake. She should avoid certain vegetables and usual way of cooking to prevent health issues in new born. Now a days doctors are advising all the mother to take normal diet after delivery. This pathiya samayal is not recommended by any doctor, but pathiya samayal has its own advantages. So i recommend all the delivered mothers to follow the pathiya samayal instead of the usual cooking to avoid any health issues for both mother and the new born. However seek the advice from your family elders’ also before you follow the below instruction.
General instructions:
- Take green vegetables and fruits as advised by doctors. We can take more drumstick which aid in production of more breast milk. Other than this, we can take carrot, beans, green vegetables. Try to avoid root vegetables. We can include snake gourd but try to avoid this during winter as it is a cold vegetable.
- Take food at proper times. Do not skip any session.
- Dinner has to be completed before 7pm as it will help in digestion. The new moms will have digestion issue so it is always recommended to eat before 7pm in the night. Eat betel leaves(Vethalai along with paaku/sunnambu) to enhance the digestion.
- Drink plenty of water to avoid constipation issue.
- Do not take oil fried appalam. Better to use sutta appalam.
- Take oil bath as per the custom of each house. Normally, we take alternate day oil bath and after oil bath use sambrani to dry the hair to avoid wetness and prevent cold.
- Do not eat anything too hot or too cold.
- Do not eat fried snacks or items
- Include garlic in pathiya samayal as this will enhance the production of mother’s breast milk.
- Avoid gas-causing vegetables.
- Upto 30 days, after the mother take bath, she should be given Prasava Legiyum and after that the mom has to take breakfast/milk/horlicks before seeing the new born kid.
- Always good to give sweet lime (Sathukudi) juice mixed in hot water in the afternoon session for the new moms.
- After 45 days, on an auspicious day, we can make the mom to touch salt, tamarind and then we can follow the normal cooking for the new moms.
- Grind dry ginger powder with jaggery and can be given to the mom. Always better to boil the water and add dry ginger powder(Sukku) and then give that water to mom.
- For oil bath: Take 2 teaspoon of gingelly oil along with 1/2 teaspoon of urdal, 1 red chili, 1 pepper, 1 virali manjal(Turmeric stick) and keep it in low flame and heat the oil. Apply this oil in the new mom’s hair and then ask her to take oil bath.
Recipes:
Kalathu Powder:
This powder is generally used for all curry(Poriyal) varieties and also for rasam.
Ingredients:
Method:
- Heat the ghee in a pan and fry all the above ingredients till the urdal turns golden brown color.
- Grind this in a mixer to a nice powder.
- Add this to poriyal or rasam along with curry leaves and salt.
Angaya powder
Ingredients :
Dhaniya (coriander seeds) – 2 tablespoon
Neem Flower – 2 teaspoon
Sundaikkai vathal – 2 teaspoon
Pepper – 1/2 teaspoon
Cumin seeds – 1/2 teaspoon
Salt – To taste
- Heat a heavy bottomed pan, and add all ingredients and dry fry the ingredients
- Grind all the ingredients in a mixer to a nice powder
- Serve the angaya podi with hot rice and ghee. This powder is good for stomach.
Manathakkali Vathal Sadham:
Gingelly oil – 1 teaspoon
Method:
Paruppu Thugayal(Thuvayal):
Curry leaves – few
Method:
- Heat oil in pan and thurdal, pepper and salt and fry till the dal turns golden brown color.
- Grind this in a mixer along with curry leaves and serve with hot rice
Rasam:
Ingredients:
- Heat tamarind in flame and soak in water and extract the juice in a vessel.
- Along with the tamarind juice add the kalathu powder, salt and allow the rasam to boil
- Heat ghee in a pan and when the ghee is hot, add mustard seeds and cumin seeds and allow it to sputter and then add this seasoned ingredient to the boiling rasam and remove the rasam from flame.
- Serve the rasam with hot rice.
Vathakuzhambu:
Ingredients:
- Heat the tamarind in flame and soak in water and extract the tamarind juice and keep it aside
- Heat ghee in a pan and fry the manathakkali vathal till it turns crisp. Take it in a plate and keep it aside
- Heat oil in pan, add mustard seeds, when the mustard seeds starts to sputter, add urdal, broken red chilli, thur dal and fry till the dals turns golden brown color
- To this add tamarind extract and salt and allow the vathakuzhambu to boil
- When the raw smell of tamarind goes off, add the fried manathakkali vathal and curry leaves and remove from flame
- Serve vathakuzhambu with hot rice and sutta appalam
Parboiled Rice Porridge ( Puzhungal Arisi Kanji) :
Omam – 50gms
Badam – 20
Cashew – 20
Palm Sugar – as needed
Method for preparing porridge flour:
- Rinse the parboiled rice in water, and in a clean white dhoti or towel spread the wet rice evenly
- Allow the wet rice to dry in the towel
- Take the dried rice in a container and add omam, badam and cashew
- Grind the above ingredients in a rice mill to a nice powder.
- You can also try grinding it in a mixer in home in smaller quantities and sieve to remove lumps and again grind the lumps to get a nice kanji powder.
Method for preparing porridge:
- Clean your hands and vessels to start preparing porridge. Hygiene is more important as this for the toddlers.
- Soak some palm sugar in water, and extract the juice using a filter to avoid sand
- After preparing the porridge powder,based on the age of the baby, take little quantity(1 teaspoon) on the first day and add little water to in and stir well to avoid lumps.
- Keep the diluted porridge flour in flame and keep stirring and add little water again and make sure the porridge is cooked completely and it becomes semi-solid.
- Add palm/cane sugar, and stir well and remove from flame.
- Once the porridge cools off give it to baby in smaller quantities. Make sure this new diet suits your baby and does not upset their stomach.
- Once this porridge suits your baby, then slowly increase the quantity.
Some Home Remedies:
Ezhai Marundhu for Baby:
- Take one ingredient at a time, wet a clean rough surface with water and rub it in a rough surface only once.
- Repeat the same step for the other ingredients
- Take the medicine from the surface and mix with mother’s breast milk and feed the baby
- We can use sandalwood stone to rub the ingredients
Toddlers Recipe |
Thanks you so much mami for accepting my request to post this Pathiya samaiyal.
-Radha
mami, can u please give me the recipe for ennai kathirikkai? is it the same as rasavangi?
mami can u please tell the significance of taking oil bath and on what days it is best to take oil bath ?
mami, what type of kootu can we make for pathiya samayal?
what are the lentils that is good for health after delivery, becoz generally they say we have to avoid toor dhal as it causes gastric problem for the baby if mom eats it ?
Wonderful information. very useful. Thanks http://goo.gl/4i6aj
THANK YOU VERY MUCH FOR YOUR HELPFUL TIPS 🙂
Kindly add this pathiya samayal link as a separate link near toddlers recipe.. this would help us to gett it instantly without searching.. thanks Arathi
Hi Arathi, Surely i will do add a separate link, Right now i am modifying this post. Will republish in a separate link soon. Thanks
in vathal kuzhambu no milagai podi added, is it missed in receipte in the events samayal
Thank you so much for generously sharing your knowledge and wisdom. god bless you!
MJ
Thanks so much for this wonderful tip maami….
thank u so much maami , these are very useful tips.
Very useful. Beautifully penned.
very useful receipe maami. Thanks lot.
This info comes in handy when caught alone in the foreign land. Thanks a lot! One more clarification pls..
After the delivery, when in the hospital or for the first 2 days, before we start off with pathiya sapad, what else can be given? idly and kanji alone will do?
Regards, and Thanks in advance.
Hi Rani, before starting up Pathiya Samayal, for the breakfast we have to have only light steam cooked dishes such as Idly, idiyappam. For lunch, we could have rasam with green vegetable and both should be less spice. For dinner, we could have again idly or kanji.
Hi mami. Can u pl.send receipie of pilla petha marunthu…thank u so much..fr the information.
Very good information for pergnent ladyes . This information are as told and follow ed by my grandma’s. Thank for information once again
Glad to hear. Thanks
Thanks Maami , for this valuable information.
Thanks a lot Mrs Subbu! Shall follow that.
hello, firstly thank u for d wonderfully compiled information.d site is like a bible for first time mothers like me.
I would like to know how long should d ezhai marundhu be given to d baby? Also, my grandmother keeps saying dat gold also forms part of dis marundhu bt dint see it in your list.my daughter is 25days old so was just checking sothat I can start giving her.
thank you once again.
divya.
I am expecting a baby soon, I stay at USA. Would like to know if i can make the pulaipetha legiyam myself here. Request you to let me know the recipe for the same.. I was in India for my first delivery and so i had the legiyam powder available there which my amma used to give with the jaggery pak and ghee. But here i need to prepare with the ingredients available here at Indian grocery store..
Hi Arathi, we can very well make legiyum in home itself. Please see the link below and prepare. Guess you would get all the items in Indian shop near your place. https://www.subbuskitchen.com/2009/10/deepavali-legiuminji-legium-deepavali.html
Take care of your health. I will pray for a healthy baby and for ur health too…
Hello Maami, I am from Kallidai Kurichi and currently in Chennai. I love our traditions, especially in Kallidai style. I am now expecting and need a big help from you. We give 'marundu' during 5th month with a lot of ingredients as legiyAm. If you can share the recipe, it would be great.
Things like, night dress, flask, changing dress, inners, dress for the babies, towel, comb, etc should be taken in a separate bag. We can call this as a labour bag. this site
Hello madam, I am Parimala Subbarayan from Coimbatore. Firstly, I would like to thank and appreciate you for all your useful recipes and tips. I keep sharing them with my friends. My grandson is now 3 months old. Please can you share with me a home remedy which can help him to get rid of his gas trouble? He is too small to manage it and keeps crying at nights until he gets a burp. He is in USA and so requesting you to please share a recipe that can be made with the materials available there. Hope this is useful to all new mothers out there too 🙂
Hi Parimala Madam, giving any remedy for 3 months old is not advisable. The mother should not take any gas foods. Need to in-take garlic, beetle leaves to digest the food and also should avoid more gas foods. We generally give only ezha marundhu for the baby.
Hello mami, is thr separate pathiyam food for mom according to boy or girl baby? ,pls tell me about using yogurt after delivery
Pathiyam doesn't vary for boy or girl. You should not give chilled yogurt . Yogurt should be fresh and at room temperature. If you have refrigerated, then make sure you heat up the yogurt before giving it to the mom as the cold yogurt may cause cold which will inturn affect the child
What type of recipes can we give to 1.3 year old baby. Please send the recipes.
Hi, I have a collection of few purees and healthy mix which can be given to the toddlers and infants.Please refer this below link for toddlers recipes.
https://www.subbuskitchen.com/search/label/Toddlers%20Recipes
Hello Mrs. Subbalakshmi,
Thank you for the excellent service. I have a question: When to give kasturi and korojanai to the just born baby and in what quantity? The childbirth is only a few days away. Thanks once again.
Jayalakshmi.
A very small pinch of kasturi korojanai needs to be given. just a vendayam (fenugreek seeds) size
Hai mam ,i have 4 month kid now i can folow pathiya samayal ah? I was 60 when i get preganent nw i was 76 after delivery my stomach and hip gets expanded.can i use any belt or wat can i do? Reply mam
Hi Sumathi, you can very well folow pathiya samayal. It is very healthy and good. But for reducing weight you need to do some excersice regularly. Basic Crunches will help to reduce the belly. You can get tummy trimmer belt in shop. But that will not help to reduce but will make you look slim. Continuous excersice and pathiya samayal will surely help you shed some weight. But do not add too much of ghee to your food.
Kind advice to everyone. Please do your own research and do not rely on one source. It is a question of the health of the next generation. Talk to doctors, you have the internet, you have books, read them all – read what every culture around the world feeds nursing mothers. Throw out your inhibitions and any baseless "rules" – please (such as vegetarianism). Again, I repeat – it is a question of the health of the next generation. The percentage of anemia in Indian women is high. Thank you and I don't mind hurting anyone/taking abuse as long as the next generation is far away from: thin bone structure, poor muscle development, sunken eyes and overall poor health and strength compared to children from other places and cultures in the world.
I love this blog, everything is so informational and well put together!. vegan diet weight loss
Hi madam. Its 28th day after my delivery. Now i am having pain while going motion . Sometimes i cannot even lie down. Please suggest me what to do
You have got constipation problem suja. you should take lots of water and include more ghee in your diet. eat raisins(dry grapes) which will eases this pain. tablets or other cool vegetables would give an impact to the breast feeding baby. so be careful. in take less spice and increase the water content.
Nice post..
Hi mami,
I recently gave birth to a baby 1 month 3days ago, can you please tell me what are the foods that cause gas.
Thank you,
Priya
Hello Maami! When should we give Korojanai to new born baby? My grandson is almost 3 months old and have not given him korojanai yet. Can we give korojanai anytime during the day?
sweet post
Maami I live in the USA and I have a 4+ months baby girl. I am still not taking tamarind or onions or tomatoes. Is that ok? When can I start taking it. What all vegetables should I take at this point?
Is it ok to try boiled and mashed apple or carrots for the baby to eat now?
What vegetables do we include in pathiya samayal? Also, what vegetables have to be avoided?
post natal delivery we give savalla kozambu to women. what are its ingredients
Thank you for the post. It's really helpful but one small request can you please post it in telugu also as some words I am unable to understand. Hope you'll post it soon. I gave birth 15days back and I am following whatever I can understand of you're valuable information. Please consider my request.
Thank you so much mami.This site is very helpful.
Hello Mami
Want the recipe for pathiya garlic powder. We usually make it with toor dal. Since it is gaseous, want to know an alternative.
My friend wanted to get pregnant but was not sure which method to follow so that she would get pregnant naturally. So she started following the natural gender selection & prediction which was getting popular at that time. It costs less than other methods.
Excellent description. Very useful to the beginner grandmother. It is much appreciated if you include the vegetables names in pathiya samayal. God bless and long live.
Sure. Thanks.
Subbu Mami, the receipts were very useful and informative. All our friend’s queries and your replies were very very much informative. Thanks once again. I have a question to you Mami.
What are the fruits that can be included at this time as my angel is 28 days old. My hubby feels that extra nourishment can be received from fruits. I am aware that banana, jackfruit and mango should not be taken till baby stop mother feed. At this time what can I do….Thanks in advance
Thanks for reaching me out Shobana. For 28 days old babies, its too early to start with solid or purees. i would advice to mother feeding for 3 full months, then slowly start with sweet potato mash, apple mash or carrot mash. All these are advisable only from 4th month. Please consult a pediatrician to get advice
Mami, thanks for the receipes and information. I have 28days old angel. What fruits can be taken at this time? Thanks in advance
Hi Maami. Thank you so much for this information. I was desperately trying to look for pathiya samayal recipe as I am going to become a grandmother soon.
So glad to hear. Thanks Malini ji
Very useful information Mam. Thank you.
Thank you Anuradha
Mam can you give me the recipe for the podi which is used in sundal
Hi Lalitha, pls refer this link for Sundal Podi recipe – https://www.subbuskitchen.com/sundal-powder-curry-powder/
thanks from my side also as my daughter is expecting her second child in March but i really forgot everything i did for the first granddaughter
oh Congratulations. Reach me out if you have any questions or queries related to Pathiya samayal
I have generally followed this web source and recommended the site to many.
Today, i was looking at this section. I am disappointed to read about recommendations on what to feed the baby, or what to mix with mother’s milk as medicines for the baby (EZHAI MARUNDHU). Baby needs nothing other than mother’s milk till almost six months of age. NO MEDICINES. Most of the products recommended have alkaloids that are harmful for the very tender liver and kidneys of the baby which are still maturing and not capable of filtering chemicals the way adults do. You are recommending long term harm to the baby’s liver and kidneys by advising products that you cannot even give to say a five year old. Kindly remove those recommendations from your postings.
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