Collections 坐月
Soups for the first month
坐月 (zuo yue), “sitting the month”: Cantonese families keep new mums cosy with warm, gentle pots, and the cold stuff waits.
Traditional home cooking, not medical advice. Check with your doctor, especially if you’re pregnant, nursing, or on medication.
The house rules
- Warm is the rule. Chicken, fish, ginger, red dates and longan go in; raw, “cold” foods mostly wait.
- Dong quai moves blood, so families usually wait until bleeding has eased. Ask your doctor or midwife first.
- Soup is the sidekick: eat well, rest lots, and keep up the fruit and veg your care team suggests.
Cosy pots
Warming, gentle bowls families make for new mums.
Papaya, peanut and fish tail soup
木瓜花生魚尾湯
Traditionally given to new mothers and said to moisten skin and help digestion.
Neutral平2 h 20 min
Codonopsis, yam and goji chicken soup
黨參淮山杞子雞湯
Traditionally believed to lift tiredness and a poor appetite.
Warming溫2 h 15 min
Chestnut and shiitake chicken soup
栗子冬菇雞湯
Traditionally believed to warm and strengthen the body in cold months.
Warming溫2 h 20 min
Dong quai and astragalus chicken soup
當歸黃芪紅棗雞湯
Traditionally believed to nourish blood and qi, often after a period or childbirth.
Warming溫2 h 15 minNot for when you have…- A baby on the way
- Heavy periods or bleeding
- Blood-thinning medicine
- A cold or flu
- A fever
Double-boiled ginseng chicken
人參燉雞
Traditionally believed to restore energy after illness or exhaustion.
Warming溫4 h 15 minNot for when you have…- Blood-thinning medicine
- A cold or flu
- A fever
Longan and red date tea
桂圓紅棗茶
Traditionally believed to nourish blood and calm the mind, often after a period.
Warming溫45 min
Usually saved for later
Cooling bowls most families hold back during the month.
Watercress and pork bone soup
西洋菜豬骨湯
Traditionally believed to clear lung heat and ease a dry throat in autumn and winter.
Cooling涼Hold off2 h 50 min
Winter melon, coix seed and lotus leaf soup
冬瓜薏米荷葉湯
Traditionally believed to beat summer heat and drain dampness.
Cooling涼Hold off2 h 15 minNot for when you have…- A baby on the way
- A cold tummy or loose stools
Mung bean and kelp sweet soup
海帶綠豆沙
The classic summer cooler, traditionally believed to clear heat and toxins.
Cooling涼Hold off1 h 40 min
Where this comes from
The traditional uses on this page, and where we read them.
- Poh B.K. et al., "Postpartum dietary intakes and food taboos among Chinese women attending maternal and child health clinics and maternity hospital, Kuala Lumpur", Malaysian Journal of Nutrition 11(1), 2005
- Liu N. et al., "The effect of health and nutrition education intervention on women’s postpartum beliefs and practices: a randomized controlled trial", BMC Public Health 9:45, 2009
- Ho M. et al., "The association between traditional Chinese dietary and herbal therapies and uterine involution in postpartum women", Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine, 2011
- Hong Kong Centre for Food Safety, "Benefits of fish soup consumption" (risk analysis)
- Me & Qi TCM herb database: dang-gui
- Me & Qi TCM herb database: dang-shen
- Me & Qi TCM herb database: ren-shen
- Hong Kong Anti-Cancer Society, "中醫食療——食物種類分析" (Dr Lam To-yee, registered Chinese medicine practitioner, 2022)
Traditional home cooking, not medical advice. Check with your doctor, especially if you’re pregnant, nursing, or on medication.
