A friend of mine related a shocking story of a confinement centre to me and I felt that it ought to be shared for the benefit of many mothers and their babies. Here’s what happened.
My friend called to enquire the services of a particular commercial confinement centre as their baby will be due soon. After asking the standard questions and satisfied with the answers and price quoted, the couple was keen to close the deal and sign up for the confinement service. Before doing so, my friend gave the phone number of the centre to his mother as she had more questions to ask before confirming the service. And it was a good thing that she called up.
When my friend’s mother called, the confinement centre thought that she was looking for a job as a confinement lady. Since this was the case, my friend’s mother decided to play along and said that she was interested to look for work but she has no experience. She was then told that it was NOT A PROBLEM because she could be trained. All she had to do was to pay the centre RM2,500 and stay at the centre to be trained as a confinement lady for ONE WEEK! After that one-week training, she would then be ready to do the job for real.
Upon hearing this, she obviously lost confidence in the confinement centre for providing the services of a confinement lady with absolutely no experience, and having only been trained for a week. If you ask around, the fees that these centres charge are not cheap. You would expect good and experienced people to be doing the confinement at such a price.
It is sad that this is how the centre operates. At the same time, it is a blessing to warn other parents to beware when searching for such services from confinement centres. Do proper and stringent screening of them if you are interested in getting their service instead of hiring a freelance confinement lady. Do pass on this story to your friends who are leaning towards confinement centres too. You could be doing them a big favour.
{ 10 comments… read them below or add one }
That’s scary! I’ve heard of how some confinement centres actually cook in big batches and freeze the food. They then heat it up for these new mothers which apparently isn’t good as mothers in confinement are not supposed to eat leftover food.
That’s awful…it’s true that mothers in confinement should not be eating in such a manner. I guess profits and convenience take over conscience.
I agree with you.They even will send nannies that’re unfit for the job.I exchange 3 nannies in less than a month!These nannies either cough,sore throat or flu.Surely every parents don’t want their newborn to get infected.I don’t trust these confinement centres anymore as the one I took is a very wellknown confinement centre in PJ.
Mimi, thanks for sharing your experience. I’m sure many others will find it a good heads up. The one I am referring to in the post is also based in PJ. It could well be the same one you went to! How scary.
Wow! This is an eye-opener!
Just be careful when looking for a good confinement lady. They are hard to come by, I believe. But going for one of these commercial ones is definitely not an option for me after hearing my friend’s experience.
i’m going to deliver my second bb end of the month. i couldnt find the confinement lady and no choice to sign up with PxxLxxx confinement center for confinement nanny service. i started to get worry after reading few bad comments from the internet about the confinement centers…
Sylvia, since you’ve already signed up for it due to a lack of other options, I suggest you don’t worry yourself now. Just enjoy the rest of the pregnancy and just hope that the confinement service will turn out positively. Or if you really feel insecure, you can still source for options now. Just stay happy and don’t worry yourself unnecessarily at this stage
i just over my confinement month by having the nanny service as mentioned in my previous message…to me the conclusion abt the nanny service should put it this way…
1st week—very good
2nd week—good
3rd week—ok loh…
4th week—like chinese always say…`no eye see’
Hi Sylvia, firstly congratulations on your new bundle of joy. I’m sure you’re a beaming mummy!
Sorry to hear about the deteriorating service you got from the confinement center’s nanny. People should be more aware of all these things going on. Thanks for sharing it here with us.