Tay Kewei Reveals, "I Definitely Feel the Pressure of Getting Back in Shape Quick..."

She recently gave birth to a baby boy (nicknamed “Shen Momo”), and seems to be enjoying every moment of motherhood! The theAsianparent recently caught up with Singapore singer Tay Kewei, on her journey as a new mum.

Tay Kewei and her hubby, Alfred Sim, also a singer, have been documenting their journey as a couple and as parents, on the YouTube reality show, “Married, and Then?”.

So how has life changed for these celebrities after parenthood? Were there any struggles? Read on to find out!

Firstly, congrats, and welcome to motherhood! Could you share with us a bit about your pregnancy period? Were there any struggles or challenges?

Tay Kewei: I was very blessed to have a rather smooth pregnancy – I felt physically great and kept up with prenatal yoga, I didn’t have any morning sickness at all and didn’t even puke once, and had a great appetite.

But I did have bouts of acid reflux once in a while and had really swollen feet from water retention, but nothing I felt I couldn’t handle. 🙂

How tough is it to have your life constantly under scrutiny for a reality show (Married, and Then?)

Tay Kewei: It is definitely not “constantly” under scrutiny as we only shoot for the video once in a while. 🙂 It was fun for us because our pregnancy and the home-building process happened to be at the exact same period – we couldn’t have planned it any better!

When our home was done, our baby was almost here as well.

So it was really literally the “Married, and Then?” phase where young married couples would build a home together, have a baby and build a family.

Do tell us about your delivery – was it all smooth sailing? We heard Alfred was beside you throughout labour that lasted over 10 hours…

Tay Kewei: Yes, Alfred was definitely a great help. He can be seen shouting next to me while I was pushing out my baby as if he were at a soccer match! That’s in Married, and Then? as well.

(For the info, the little one’s birth was documented by video almost from beginning to end for the show.)

It was a natural birth, assisted with epidural, and took almost half a day but all turned out okay.

Wasn’t it tough to keep updating social media and the show even at delivery time?

Tay Kewei: I guess it’s a form of memory for us as well, just that we shared our video publicly. I don’t think it’s tough though.

PHOTO: FROM TAY KEWEI

How has parenthood changed you both? What are the best things and the most challenging things about being a new mum?

Tay Kewei: We are slowly getting used to this new lifestyle, we both love the baby so much and he brings endless laughter to us and our family, especially our grandparents.

Having such a fragile little human wholly dependent on me makes me want to love him so much, and he is the cutest little bundle of joy.

Were there any struggles when it came to breastfeeding the little one?

Tay Kewei: As I’m exclusively breastfeeding, it’s quite a steep learning curve to make it work!

Luckily I had milk from day 1, and my confinement nanny taught me how to stick to a schedule of feeding and pumping throughout my confinement, so I built up a good supply.

However I’ve had engorgement problems that were really quite serious, and had to seek a lactation consultant’s help.

Do you both notice any changes in each other now that you are parents?

Tay Kewei: We definitely have much less time for each other, and when we do, we are usually tired and just want to zone out.

So we really need to get used to this new lifestyle first and then slowly get back into the groove of things!

Did you follow Chinese confinement practices?

Tay Kewei: This was a really difficult decision for me as there was no source I could really trust to make sure what I was doing was right.

Between the two extremities of doctor’s advice that you could bathe and shampoo every day, to old wives tales that you had to avoid both for a month, I guess most people would swing somewhere in the middle, and that was what I did.

I showered every day with a herbal bath (to get rid of the wind), and shampooed my hair every 4-5 days!

I also avoided the fan like a plague but could be in an aircon room with the temperature set about 26-27 °C. 🙂

PHOTO: INSTAGRAM / TAY KEWEI

Any special postpartum diet that you followed and recommend?

Tay Kewei: For the first two weeks I had “normal” home-cooked food, avoiding ginger as my baby had slight jaundice.

After 2 weeks I started on all the usual confinement food, herbal soups and really nourishing tonic soup, as well as Benedictine liquor with chicken essence every day.

If you don’t mind, can you share how much weight you put on during pregnancy? What do you think of mums (especially celebrity mums) being under pressure to lose all the pregnancy weight?

Tay Kewei: I had put on 15 kg (from 45kg to 60 kg) by the end of my pregnancy.

I definitely feel the pressure of getting back in shape quick, so I wore a binder and shapewear religiously for about 6 weeks.

But I was still having double portions of food anyway due to breastfeeding.

I think as long as you are eating healthy and not trying to lose weight, but eating less, that’s fine!

I haven’t really started working out, but have been doing squats with my baby as he loves it!

Are you worried about too much media exposure for the little one? (Some celebrities like Joanne Peh haven’t revealed their kids’ faces yet!)

Tay Kewei: We didn’t want to overexpose his face, so for the first two months we never really posted a very clear photo of him.

But there was no official decision to show or not show, and we just went along and were pretty casual about it.

Since we were not very strict about this and many friends had posted his photo anyway, we gradually decided that it was actually okay!

What would be your advice for new parents?

Tay Kewei: Open communication, understanding and patience are so important!

(Featured Image provided by Tay Kewei, taken by Tomato Photo)

Also READ: Tay Kewei reveals her epidural story