Traditional practices followed by the mothers after delivery in a rural area of Tamil Nadu

Abstract

Background: India is culturally diverse and traditional practices differ from region to region. Even though the prevalence and degree may vary, traditional practices which have long term devastating effects are performed all over the world. Harmful traditional methods are always perpetrated against infants. Hence it is important to understand the local practices to comprehend fully the determinants of adverse health outcomes of infants. This study was planned to assess the prevalence of harmful traditional practices adopted by the mothers of infants in Tirunelveli and to assess the association of various socio demographic factors influencing these practices among the mothers. Methods: A cross sectional study was conducted among 100 mothers of infants in the subcentre of Patthamadai Primary Health Centre, Tirunelveli. Mothers with infants of less than one-year-old were selected randomly from the Family register and after obtaining their consent were interviewed at their door steps with a pretested semi- structured questionnaire. Data collected were analysed using SPSS software. Results: Among 100 mothers who were interviewed, 36 of them had given pre lacteal feeds, 24 of them did not practice exclusive breast feeding, 44 had used feeding bottles, 10 had reported some application on umbilical cord stump, 16 of them took native treatment for diarrhoea, 12 of them had instilled oil in eyes and 60% of them had practices of blowing of air into ear and nose. Conclusions: Almost all the mothers have practiced at least one harmful traditional practice following delivery of their child and these practices were mostly under the influence of the grandparents. The most commonly adopted harmful practices were administration of pre lacteal feeds and not practicing exclusive breast feeding which are contributing factors in increasing the Infant mortality.