Traditional practises regarding mother and infant care of 15-49 year old married women in the postpartum period

Abstract

This study aims to determine the traditional practises regarding mother and infant care in the postpartum period of married women between the ages of 15-49. The research has been conducted involving 150 women aged 15 - 49, who gave birth on May-July at the perinatology clinic. In this research, written authorization from the institution and verbal permission from the participants were taken. Data was obtained by applying traditional checklist forms and face to face interviews based on personal information forms and literature review related to maternal and infant care. The evaluation of the data covers percentages, means and chisquare tests. According to the results of this study, the mean age of the women and their age of getting married were determined as 29.4±11.4 and 17.2±6.1. It has been found out that 34.7% of the women preferably apply some traditional methods when confronted with health problems and 86.0% prefer traditional methods in different rates. Within the postpartum period some traditional practices mostly preferred regarding mother care are following: the restriction of sexual intercourse for a period of 40 days (82.7%), 40 days of special care for the mother (59.3%), consuming sweet dishes like syrups and candies in order to increase the amount of mother milk (68.7%), keeping some objects in the bedroom (bread, scissors, broom, the Quran) in order to protect the mother and the infant from nightmares and the evil eye (48.0%). Traditional practices women apply on their babies are preferably: 40 days of special care for the baby (55.3%), practices related to the navel drop of the baby (48.0%) and saving the baby from the evil eye (42.7%). Additionally, it has been determined that 45.3 % of the women swaddle their newborn baby and 47.3% salt them. It has also been pointed out that illiterate women and women living in villages are more bound to these traditional practices. Findings reveal that women with a primary school graduation living in a nuclear family do not pay much attention to traditional practices but prefer seeing a doctor when confronted with a health problem (P<0.05). As a result, it can be claimed that within the frame of this study women place value to traditional practices and apply those in the postpartum period to both mother and infant.