Cultural Practices And Beliefs On Newborn Care Among Mothers In A Selected Hospital Of Mangalore Taluk

Introduction :

Cultural and traditional practices, values and beliefs play an important role in the medical attention-seeking behavior of postpartum mothers as well as in newborn babies during the postnatal period.¹

There are various traditional and cultural practices followed which affect the newborn. A family which mirrors values, traditions, customs and beliefs, i.e. culture of a society to which it belongs, plays an important role in physical, psychological, social development and health in children.²

Newborn mortality is one of the world's neglected health area. As most of births and deaths occur outside any established health care facility, reduction in neonatal mortality may depend significantly on interventions involving promotion or adaptation of traditional care behaviors practiced in the home. Feeding of colostrum, timing of initiation and duration of breastfeeding, umbilical cord care, and measures taken to prevent hypothermia of the newborn are important factors in health and survival during the neonatal period.¹

Some of the practices followed are first bath of the baby by adding 40 stones or placing a needle to bathwater of babies, not cutting babies 1^st nail until the babies were 40 days old, swaddling, removal of umbilical cord, Evil eye, time of breast feeding within one hour of delivery or 8 hours after delivery, wrapping babies with yellow fabric or using lamps with yellow light etc in case of jaundice.²

The mothers who are not equipped with sufficient knowledge about newborn care and using traditional child care methods may sometimes cause harm to their newborn and even cause handicaps in them.²

In our community women receive information from family members, elders and traditional birth attendants. Hence, these groups, expectant mothers and mothers of newborns should be targeted with educational messages. Newborn care, similar to other human behaviors, is influenced by cultural beliefs. Hence exploration of cultural beliefs and practices of newborn care is essential.¹

Materials and Methods :

The major task of the researcher was to develop an instrument that accurately and precisely measures the variables of interest. Data collection tools were the procedures or instruments used by the researcher to observe or measure the key variable in the research problem. Since the purpose of the study was to identify the cultural practices and beliefs on newborn care among mothers, a structured dichotomous questionnaire was prepared. The samples were selected by purposive sampling method.

The data was collected from Justice K.S. Hegde Charitable Hospital, Mangalore. To conduct the study in the hospital, prior permission was obtained from higher authorities. Mothers were provided a comfortable area and they were informed that the main aim of the study is to assess the cultural practices and beliefs on newborn care. Consent was obtained from the mothers and each mothers were given 10-15 minutes to give appropriate response. The reliability of the tool was tested using Chronbach's Alpha and the value was 0.72 and the tool was found to be reliable. The period of data collection for the study was from 1/1/2013 to 30/4/2013. The demographic data and structured dichotomous questionnaire was given to the mothers to collect the data. The data was collected and recorded systematically of each subject and organized in a way that facilitates computer entry.

Results :

Discussion :

Socio demographic variables of mothers revealed that out of 157 mothers, majority (72) 46% were in the age group of 26-30 years, (89) 57% belong to nuclear family, (89) 57% were from Hindu family, (32) 20% had SSLC qualification, (95) 61% of them were home makers, (83) 53% were having 1 child, (56) 36% had monthly income between Rs18,36215,187, and (85) 54% of mothers duration of marital life is less than 5 years.

In this study majority 85% of mothers applied Kajal on the baby's face to prevent evil eye. According to the descriptive study conducted in Chandigarh revealed that out of 226 mothers who had children below 3 months practice of applying Kajal was prevalent in 94.7% in slums and 28.3% in urban areas³.

Majority 95% of mothers massaged the baby with oil before bath. According to the study conducted in Rawalpindi district, Pakistan, out of 100 mothers who were having baby of 6 months age, it was found that oil massage was a frequent practice in 61% of babies⁴.

In this study 31% of mothers gave prelacteal feeds soon after birth. According to the descriptive study conducted in Civil Hospital Ahmedabad, among 435 mothers it was found that about 66.2% of mothers offered boiled water as a first feed⁵. And according to the qualitative study conducted in 6 urban slum areas of Dhaka, Bangladesh, among 18 recently delivered mothers it was found that 40% of women gave honey while 16% of women gave sugar water soon after birth⁶.

Conclusion :

The study was conducted under certain objectives to assess the cultural practices and beliefs on newborn care among mothers and to associate it with demographic variables.

Every society has its own traditional beliefs and practices related to baby care. Beliefs in super natural power that is holy rituals, salvation offerings and sacrifices are applied at different stages of life from birth to death. There are many such practices, rituals, beliefs and offerings which either protect or harm the health of the baby⁷. The study enabled the researchers to identify the cultural practices and beliefs on newborn care followed by the mothers. Help from the authorities and subjects made the study fruitful and interesting.