Pregnancy & Postpartum Care
The season before, and the season after
The Donguibogam gives pregnancy its own vocabulary. Swelling in pregnancy is not swelling — it is child swelling. Restlessness is child vexation; a cough is child cough. The naming is not decorative. It encodes a clinical rule that modern obstetrics also follows: pregnancy changes what a symptom is, and therefore what it needs.
The same holds for the weeks after. The chapter lists twenty-one named postpartum conditions — its longest single register — and the message in that length is unmistakable: the postpartum is not a return to normal. It is its own season, with its own illnesses.
What the classical texts say. Some of it has aged strikingly well. Alcohol in pregnancy is prohibited absolutely, four centuries before fetal alcohol syndrome was described. A newborn who will not breathe is to be wrapped, held against the mother, and the cord left uncut until the child is breathing — delayed cord clamping, which modern obstetrics reintroduced only in recent decades. Postpartum fever is sorted five ways, and the fifth is milk fever, diagnosed by palpating the breast and treated by emptying it. No formula at all — just the correct observation and the obvious remedy.
Other passages belong firmly to their century, and we say so plainly in the translation rather than quietly leaving them out.
→ Women — full translated chapter
How we treat it. Gentle, conservative, and coordinated with your obstetric provider:
In pregnancy — nausea, back and pelvic pain, sleep, swelling, and anxiety. For breech presentation we offer moxibustion at the BL67 point, the one classical technique from this chapter that has been studied in modern trials and is offered in hospitals worldwide.
After birth — recovery from blood loss, afterpains, night sweats, low mood and anxiety, and lactation difficulties. Gunggwijohyeol-eum 芎歸調血飮 is the tradition's postpartum standard; Ongno-san 玉露散 addresses milk that will not come down with heat and engorgement.
A note on scope — please read. Bleeding, cramping, fever, sudden or severe swelling, headache with visual changes, or reduced fetal movement are matters for your obstetric provider or emergency care, immediately and first. Acupuncture and herbs are supportive care around that, never a substitute for it. Herbal prescribing in pregnancy is done conservatively and only when clearly indicated.
This approach may help if you're dealing with: morning sickness and nausea · pregnancy-related back and pelvic pain · sleep disruption and anxiety in pregnancy · breech presentation · birth preparation · postpartum fatigue and recovery · afterpains · postpartum mood changes · lactation difficulties and engorgement · night sweats after birth.
The Donguibogam translation project at formulas.raahacupuncture.com is researched and translated by Eui Young (Justin) Chung, L.Ac., Dipl. O.M.