Review of TMC, Thomson Medical Confinement Food

I did DIY confinement with my hubby alone and hence ordering catered confinement food was a huge lifesaver. It saved us much time and effort for me to get the nutritional goodness a post-partum mother needs. This is also a good option for those who only have mother or mother-in-law to help out. No need to shop for the ingredients, clean the kitchen, wash the dishes, worry about not getting enough nutrition nor endure bad cooking “in silence”, if any.

If you want to do the typical Chinese 28-day confinement without the cooking, the easiest way is to order from a confinement food caterer. Book early, and enjoy early bird prices and promotion. There are many caterers to choose from, so order trial meals from your shortlisted caterers to see which you prefer!

About Thomson Confinement Food

I had the same confinement meal (“tingkat”) arrangement for my first and second pregnancy. For the first month post-partum, I went with Thomson Medical (“Thomson”) for their more traditional food offerings. Thereafter, it is 14 days of fusion and modern lunch menu with Tian Wei.

Other than award* winning confinement food, ThomsonBaby.com which is managed by Thomson, has a variety offerings such as traditional Chinese medicine, antenatal class, and confinement nanny services. Not only that, they sell a wide array of products for babies and mothers, from baby cot to toys, from supplements to facial care.

Along with catered confinement food from Thomson, I also took their 28-Day confinement herbal care package that’s customised to my body needs and constitution.

*Parents World awarded Thomson with the best confinement food services each year since 2017.

Thomson Confinement Food Menu

I ordered Thomson confinement food again for my second pregnancy because its menu is thoughtfully crafted by Thomson’s in-house team of traditional Chinese medicine (“TCM”) physicians, lactation consultants and nutrition experts. The menu is developed, and ingredients carefully planned to provide the best nutrition for mummies and and support them in their breastfeeding journey.

Of course, the menu is executed and cooked with fresh and quality ingredients. Each meal is served with gourmet Kinmemai Japanese white or brown rice. It has more vitamins and dietary fibre than conventional rice, while being lower in calories.

Thomson’s 28-day Chinese menu is split into two cycles with different emphasis on ingredients used – the first 10 days and the subsequent 18 days. The full 28-day Chinese menu is available for download in PDF. Recently, Thomson has also come out with a halal menu.

First cycle:

To ease digestion, meals in the first cycle are generally milder, using less herbs, salt, oil, wine and ginger. Food is also cooked with less salt to allow the water retention during pregnancy to clear. Moreover, having less ginger and wine helps decrease the workload of the baby’s immature liver when he or she is being breastfed.

In addition, to nourish tired mothers due to the 9 months of pregnancy and blood loss during delivery, they need food rich in iron, protein, vitamins and minerals. Red dates longan tea, black beans soup and black fungus dishes are recommended during this stage.

Second Cycle:

During this cycle, meals are fortified with stronger herbs to aid mummies in recovery, and to regain energy.

Pig’s trotters in black vinegar is recommended at this stage to aid digestion and improve appetite. Together with ginger and sesame oil, this dish improves blood circulation and expels ‘wind’ and ‘dampness’ from the body. Pig trotters are high in collagen while egg is a good source of protein, and iron.

Food Samples and Promotion

To get a free sampling of Thomson’s confinement food and listen to informative talk about confinement food, register for their fortnightly food tasting session. I attended their food tasting session in 2017 and ordered for my first pregnancy there and then.

Be sure to look out for Thomson’s monthly promotion. When I signed up in January 2020, they were giving 10-serving Braised Pig’s Trotters in Black Vinegar (Worth S$150) and an additional S$38 off. You can also consider signing up as a NTUC member for S$117 and get S$100 off the confinement food package. So technically, you pay about S$17 for the NTUC member privileges which are quite good.

Review of Thomson Confinement Food

Each tingkat delivery comes with five items: vegetables, meat, double boiled soup, Kinmemai rice, and a flask of longan and red dates drink. If you order Braised Pig’s Trotters with Black Vinegar, it will be an additional lunch dish delivered to you from day 11. And if the current menu has pig’s trotters, it will replace the soup of the day, and the additional serving you bought would be brought forward to the next day.

These food items are delivered in thermal containers and thermos flask instead of disposable plastic containers. For my lunch and dinner, they were delivered for freshness at around 11:00am and 5:00pm respectively. If I consumed the food soon enough, I wouldn’t need to microwave them as the thermal carriers would keep the food warm. After eating, we simply rinsed and put the used thermal containers back into the bag for collection.

Thomson confinement meal is pricier than most, but the food is delicious and portion is huge! Enough for two. My hubby usually had to help me finish my food, albeit a bit heaty for him. If you want to save some money, you can simply order lunch and keep a portion for dinner. But at the same time, I don’t really recommend this method because of food safety issue.

Thomson’s confinement food menu has a good variety of dishes as well, avoiding too much repetition. Their Fish and Papaya soup is a favourite among mummies, while hubby and I have heaps of praises for its Braised Pig’s Trotters with Black Vinegar. Another of my favourite is their baked herbal chicken. And also the chawamushi. And I recommend opting for the brown rice. The Japanese rice was fragrant and the brown rice is not the bitter-tasting brown rice you might imagine it to be.

Love what you have read so far? Head over to their website and order today!

Thomson Baby Info

• Email: Website Contact Form; Meal Activation Link
• Tel: +65 65111183 / 63508848
• Address:
  • 339 Thomson Road #01-06, Singapore 307677
  • Thomson TCM Clinics are located at Paragon, NUH, and Waterway Point.
• Hours: 9:00AM – 5:00PM (Mon – Fri); 9:00AM – 11:00AM (Sat); Closed on Sun, PH
• Website: thomsonbaby.com/shop
• Social Media: www.facebook.com/thomsonbabyfair; www.instagram.com/thomsonbaby.sg (@thomsonbaby.sg); www.instagram.com/thomsonmedical (@thomsonmedical)

Disclosure: This is an editorial review. I was sponsored a portion of the package and was not paid for publishing my experience with this service. All opinions are of my own and are genuine.