“Ap tap chee”?
To share a very geli photo here.
Anyone knows what this is called? After so much struggling with these 2 babies day and night (even my CL said they are the most difficult babies she ever seen!), we decided to try this remedy for the babies.
How to do:
Wet the shoulder, thighs, and arms area. Then rub some flour onto the wet area. Work under your bathroom lighting. If lumps are seen, then it means the babies internal body is hot (my friend called it “ap tap chee” (hokkien means dirty torn) ). Then apply some lotion to shave it off their body (we tried to shampoo it off but it just could not come off).
Why do this:
To cold down the baby’s body so that the baby can sleep better.
Not sure if it works, but no harm trying since we almost go mad. Cannot imagine how my life will be after my CL leaves end of next week….WAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
flour kena water sure lump one right? if their body very heaty, my mom will reduce the amount of ginger in the confinement food and i dont drink DOM or any heaty stuff since whatever i eat will go to the breastmilk.
It works on both my kids… and I just love to offer help to shave it!! A little bit bin tai huh?
But, remember don’t exposed them to wind as my mum said after u apply that, the pore are opened, will easy catch cold! Also, don’t do it often.
if not mistaken, most Hakka know that
Last time my elder nephew & younger niece are both always cry & difficult to take care also. But it’s not due to heaty in body, they just like to cry anytime anywhere…but it’s just for a certain period of time.
interesting! never knew such a thing existed. so fast eh, 1 month already? next thing we know, your boys celebrating their 1st birthdays.
hang in there ya, i’m sure you will be able to handle them and bear in mind, it’s just short-term. they will grow very quickly.
CN, yes, this is the result after rubbing the skin. Not a lot but you can try
day after tomorrow if they still behave “naughty”.
This reminds me of a traditional method which I used to reduce Brendan’s fever at one time. I mix wheat flour and egg white - no water at all. And rub on the whole body outwards until the flour turn to a very rough dough. This absorbs the body heat. but cannot kena angin..
Guess most of babies tried this. my little Xandria also got it during her early month. Even now, mom also do it for her if she hardly to sleep at night.
You’re right! It is a geli photo.
When we were kids, my mom also uses the flour+ egg white recipe to cool down our body during high fever. Really works to reduce the body temp fast.
I heard of this also but it was 3 months after my baby was born where too late to try. But i really want to know whether it works.
reli geli the photo… tis is the 1st time i heard about tis, does it reli work?
jia you wor! you can do it when CL left
don’t worry..you will be able to get use n manage when CL leave…get your maid to help…We support you…
eeeee…..d photo really looked geli wor !!
ya, if it only involves rubbing d flour on d skin….no harm trying lor!
anything will do when u r near insane heh ??!!
cool down…..
oh, we did tis to my dotter too >< maybe can really ease up the babies lor
Hi Chin Nee.. didn’t know you already given birth.
The babies are cute!!!
Does this thing that you’d just said work?
woooOo… dont know about this untill now. thanks for sharing… and hope it works.
dont worry, you will be managable, after sometimes.
I’ve heard of this before!! Usually they do it when the kids got high fever. But seriously, I’ve not tried it. Hope it works?
my yew shen tried before, came out many ap tap chee and we shave it slowly…don’t worry, no problem to try out this way as long as it can help. Some people say use Anchor beer to shower if you think baby still very heaty but not encourage ler…
its something new to me.
can i do it on a 9 month old baby to see if he is heaty or not????
what makes u think yr baby is heaty in the first place? because they dont sleep well? or they jsut want to drink and drink milk?
My CL did tat to Tim too. However it makes no difference coz I still struggle to handle him for 2 years.
i saw my MIL did to Jo too, she even said this method is good when the kids have fever.
This is something new to me… I’ve only heard of “chu mou teng” which is almost similar (?)…
We did it once for Claudia. She had it all over her body. To me it works, but can’t do it very often.
Hmm….some said when baby (newborn) gets cranky and can’t sleep every night, means he is heaty. This method is to cool down the body (or remove all the heaty toxic from the body?) Not very sure myself too. Will observe and see how it goes for the twins.
I heard it works for bigger kids too, especially when fever can’t go down. Haven’t try it on my girl previously.
Yes we did it for both Dillon & Kaith and it helps.
some newborns might be a little difficult to handle but the situation would be better as they grow, hang in there and take care.
i did this to my twins too!! er.. not me actually. got helps from my mum & a aunty.. hahaha… my hands will shake if u ask me to shave my gals. i think most chinese will do this to newborn to release heat inside the body. ya.. really no harm doing this
I think the whole idea is to transfer heat from body to something of lower temperature, through the rubbing process and the water/wet element. The flour perhaps is just to give comfort that it is somewhat ‘dry’ as chinese doesn’t like water which is then deemed cooling/bad.
I am sure when they did that for the first time some long long time ago in somewhere China..after rubbing..and the dough got stucked to the baby hair, they are like sh*t..what to do now? Aiya..easy..let’s make it a regime to shave as the last process.. Or maybe when the mother was preparing food which has flour and suddenly drop on the baby, when trying to rub off the flour from the baby, realized that the baby not as cranky anymore after that.
But, I suppose the rubbing process may have given the baby comfort..so massage may help as an alternative.
For those who tried this on older kids to reduce fever, I wonder if you had try sponge bath (using lukewarm water), in a room without the fan on?
Sorry, can’t help trying to be funny.
This is the first I heard of. My parents didn’t even mention anything about it..but then again, both my girls are winter babies. I won’t be surprise that the bits of flour dough are stuck on the babies. Babies do have a lot of “toi moe”.
haha…i ever did that to both my girls too…cos they keep crying at nite lar…beh tahan!…but seem not so workable ler….
dun worry lar, their cry got period de! u just have to be patient!
I’ve never seen this either!
I think babies cry a lot as they can’t say what they want or how they feel… so to me it is just a phase… however, I won’t denied all the old folk practices if they help!
I know you can handle the boys well…
Chinnee previously my girl do cried badly especially at night. Not due to heaty but I guess no security feel on her. She rather to sleep with carry, maybe still not get use without the placenta in my tummy haha.
Finally hb quckily bought a electrical cradle for her. Yes some against using cradle, but what should I do as I’m lack of sleep and going to be crazy leow. Well I’m glad that I able to wean her off cradle at 7th months.
So fast one mth alreadi? I heard my mum said dun practise tis so much. Like wat Alice said maybe they need us to cuddle.
probably it’s due to colic instead of heaty? did u feed ur twins gripe water? or some “ru yi oil” on
their stomach? i used to feed chloe that when she was young and she can sleep soundly at nite…
anyway, just my 2 cents and not harm trying all the methods as long as can calm them down..
cheers..
like sue, i think the method being used is similar to chu mou teng. But if it works, why not eh?
but i thought flour with water will surely produce lumps, yes? Anyway, hope their temperament becomes more manageable soon.
ya. last time my mil did that to my daughter too. Believe to reduce the heat in the body. Do you think it work?
I nvr seen this before either. Hope the methods work for your boys..
true, no harm trying and if it makes the confinement lady and MIL happy, why not?
hi chinnee, this was the same comment she gave to my babies - most difficult baby ever seen…haha….my hubby laughed when he hears this…
my SIL taught me using the hard boil egg, wrapped in a piece of cloth (handkerchief) and roll all over the body to remove the heat/fever… it worked for her kids and it seems cleaner than using flour
my gal was oso very cranky at the first two months, juz imagine that my CL had to carry her for the whole night…
it’s my first time to hear about this…ooohhh i learned something new today…too bad i can’t have babies anymore.
hope you are coping up well…take care!
Eeewww what is that? I havent tried this before or heard my mom say this before.
Have a nice weekend ahead.
wow, what is that harrr??? never heard about it…..
I’ve never seen this before. Yes, it does look geli!
i was taught differently to cool bb down with flour dough. buy glutton flour instead of normal type, n roll it into a dough, den cool it in the fridge. n rub it on the bb’s back to absorb the heat out.
n yes, ginger in ur confinement meals make a big difference!!
my 1st boy, my mom cook the confinement food, n she no i dun take ginger, so put little only.
my 2nd boy, my MIL thinks i did had ‘a good confinement’ durin the 1st time (due to lack of ginger lah!! -_-”) n ask the confinement lady to make alot, n she saw how i really rejects it, ask CL to fried them. so i hv no choice to put a little on top of my rice every lunch n dinner. most of it i ask my hub to finish cos he loves it.
n since both i breastfeed, i realise didi was more heaty den gorgor ever since. he gets sore throat easily. b4 1yr old, he can get it every 3mths.
Never seen this nor heard of it before…hope your babies “recover” soon..take care and have lot of rests while you can …before the CL leave..
I thought “ap tap chee” in hokkien is the tiny biscuits with coloured sugar on top which kids love to eat
hi chinnee..hang on there..err does it works?
I can understand your fear of being left alone with the babies once CL leaves. I cried when my CL left..and cried & cried….It’s not easy. But everyone will says ” stay strong & be strong for your children!!”
Even now, I feel helpless being a mom, cos my son has been having fever for more than 10days and doctor said observed another 3 days…No easy task…ya..
Really feel like taking a break out of all these for a while…don’t you ??
Anyway, we hv to stay strong….haha..ironically….
hope it works ya… your CL leaving so fast? not 1 month yet right? still got few more days ya? do take care and pls try to relax (if not, it might disrupt milk supply)
hi again Chin Nee.
Just suddenly remembered that my mum used to dry bitter gourd leaves and then boil it in baby’s bath to cool body.
Thought I should just share this with you.
This method is really works. I did to my boy when he is baby and the last i did to him was before he turns 2. It still work. He sleep tight (nap) after doing that. But the shaving part for the torns is quite geli to him. Glad that he co-operate and I used an old blade (not too sharp) to shave him. For your babies, use small scissor to cut the bigger torn.
I go with what Miche says…some of these confinement practices don’t make sense one. Just traditional beliefs with little logic to them.
I caught a fever 3 times during my confinement due to the heaty food. If you’re breastfeeding, then the heatiness could pass on to the little fellas since they absorb whatever you eat.
Do get the CL to reduce the ginger and sesame oil…
Are you giving them formula too? If yes, they need to drink water ok? One practice I learned from my elders is to let babies sip water after a feed to rinse their mouth. Now, Lucas loves to drink water on his own and he hardly has fevers.
As a last note, baby boys are slightly more difficult to soothe compared to baby girls ok? Some of my girl friends are in “trauma” because they have a sweet baby girl first and are *very surprised* at how differently their baby boys behave.
As a rule of thumb, baby boys are soothed by:
a) food - milk first! Forget the sweet talk etc
b) touch and repeated talking - boys see/feel better than they hear
c) sleep - no, they are NOT interested to see Uncle or Auntie. They just want their sleep
d) cool environment - NOT air cond ya but just enough swaddling to keep them comfy but not sweaty. They feel hotter than girls…
Got some of these tips from my old aunt who’s taken care of more than 10 baby boys in her lifetime!
Just take it in stride and accept that they are “more fussy” and soon, you’ll get into the rhythm of caring for them. Hehe, I’m one survivor!
wow…all the above tips really useful to me, be it traditional practice or logic thinking. By having boys now (2 some more!), I can really see the big difference as compare to my previous girl. Now everything begins to make sense. Thanks a lot, so much for sharing the your experience with me here.
yaya, like kittycat, boys r more fussy, n more noisy den gals..
hang in there! b4 u know it, they’ve pass 6mths n bcom little warriors :p
How To Take Care Of Newborn Dry Skin…
Interesting - because that is the same thing I found out last Thursday….