Midwifery (งานหมอตำแย)

Midwifery (งานหมอตำแย) is one of the specializations of Traditional Medicine in Thailand. It is exclusive to women as holders of this tradition. This knowledge and these skills are usually transmitted from mother to daughter throughout a lifetime. In the West, these women are usually known as "Doula" – someone who assists in the delivery of a child. However, a midwife in Thailand is much more than a midwife in the West. She is a doctor of Traditional Medicine. These are the women who provide medical, psychological, and emotional support to other women in one of the most difficult and challenging experiences a woman can go through – giving new life. Midwives are there from the moment of conception, throughout pregnancy, childbirth, and postpartum recovery. Literally, they are healers and caregivers helping human beings come into this world.

If we look at the vast scope of Thai medical knowledge, midwives are probably the ones who have to encompass the most of it. First, they have to administer complete prenatal care – providing proper dietary instructions to the mother according to her constitution and condition, observing the baby's growth, knowing how to move the baby in the womb, how to treat the mother if she catches a disease, and how to prepare different kinds of herbal remedies, as well as giving massages in the middle and late pregnancy.

Then, they assist in actual childbirth – taking all precautions to avoid any risk of infection, helping with the delivery, and knowing how to react if the delivery goes wrong. They follow all the procedures that would make the newborn safe. Immediately after childbirth, comes postpartum recovery, which consists of numerous physical therapies and herbal remedies. The midwife checks if the whole placenta is delivered, instructs the mother on how to breastfeed, and usually treats mothers with different kinds of warming therapies to dry the body of excess water. These therapies, together with massages in the following months, help the organs recover and regain their original shape and location, especially the womb. The midwife also takes care of the baby's health until the mother fully recovers.

This process requires a midwife to master an enormous body of knowledge and have a lot of experience in almost all aspects of Traditional Medicine. She has to be skilled in physical therapies, herbal medicine, spirit medicine, astrology, psychology, and so on. All this makes midwifery one of the most demanding specializations one can dedicate themselves to in Traditional Medicine of Thailand.