Study on the Customs of South Indian Mothers during pregnancy

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Study on the Customs of South Indian Mothers
during pregnancy
AUTHOR Dr .A. K. AVASARALA
MBBS,M.D. PROFESSOR HEAD DEPT OF COMMUNITY
MEDICINE EPIDEMIOLOGY PRATHIMA INSTITUTE OF
MEDICAL SCIENCES, KARIMNAGAR,A.P.. INDIA
91505417 avasarala_at_yahoo.com
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Introduction

• Customs in a community will play a key role in
  its health promotion.
• Some of these customs positively contribute to
  increase the health of the mother and the child
  while some affect them adversely.

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Introduction

• Most of the customs will have a cultural
  background rather than a scientific basis
• In this study, it is attempted to bring out the
  various social customs prevalent among the south
  Indian mothers during pregnancy

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Learning objectives

• To know the various social customs practiced by
  the south Indian mothers during pregnancy.
• To know the reasons behind these social customs

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Performance objectives

• To educate the women ,the elders and dais (dais
  are old women who will conduct deliveries in
  villages) about the positive and negative
  influences of the social customs
• and to change their attitudes.

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Study population

• 50 urban women who attended urban Maternal
  child health centre ,Chengalrao peta ,
  Visakhapatnam)
• 50 women from antenatal clinic at urban slum,
  kallupaakalu living in urban slums
• 50 women in rural villages of rural health centre
  ,Simhachalam
• Total 150 women

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METHODOLOGY

• By survey using a pretested questionnaire
  enquiring about the-----
• General customs
• Dietary practices
• Customs regarding rest, personal hygiene breast
  feeding

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• General Customs

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Seemantham

• In Indian culture, motherhood is sacred and
  brings proud ness to the woman and her parents
• This is exhibited in the form of Seemantham .
• It is the celebration that the child attained
  viability

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Seemantham ( Bangle ceremony)

• As soon as the fetus becomes viable by 7th month,
  the parents of the pregnant woman proudly
  celebrate by inviting all parous women around .
• Each of them will put a pair of bangles on the
  hands of the pregnant woman and blesses the
  pregnant woman to have safe delivery and healthy
  child.

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Place of delivery

• Usually women prefer parents home for the first
  delivery .They will have fear for first
  pregnancy and they feel relaxed at their birth
  place ,hence the preference.
• They prefer mother -in-laws homes for later
  deliveries. This may be with the purpose of
  sharing the burden.

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Travel preferences

• For the fear of abortion, mothers prefer to
  travel only after 7th or 9th month i.e. after
  the fetus attained viability.
• After child birth , they return to their
  husbands house only after 3rd or 5th month.
  This may be due to avoid early sexual contact.

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Waist belt use

• Wearing the waist belt is very common custom .
  The main reason appears to avoid distended pot
  belly development after delivery.
• They claim that gas will accumulate in abdomen
  after delivery and causes protuberant belly, if
  it is not tied with a towel .

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Ear plugging

• A very common rural custom of covering the ears
  with a soft cloth or plugging the ears with
  cotton wool to prevent entry of air into ear.
• They think that they will get fever and earaches
  if it is not done.

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WEARING SLIPPERS

• Rural women, not wearing the slippers antenatally
  , also wear them when they become pregnant to
  avoid wet feet and thereby fever.

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Eclipses

• All pregnant women stay indoors during eclipses
  for the fear of ultra violet irradiation casing
  congenital defects in the children.

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PREVALENCE OF GENERAL CUSTOMS
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REASONS FOR GENERAL CUSTOMS
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• Dietary customs

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Water consumption during pregnancy

• All pregnant women consume less water during and
  after pregnancy
• Antenatally they are afraid of water logging of
  the body and postnatally they wish to get dried
  up as soon as possible.
• Hence mother in laws or elders will allow only
  hot water, not cold water, to drink as it cannot
  be consumed much.

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Food practices

• Antenatally, food quantity is reduced by rural
  women for the fear of obstructed labour by big
  baby whereas with urban women this is less
  practiced.
• Quantity is increased postnatally by all women to
  get rid of weakness and to increase milk
  secretion.

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Food restrictions

• Fish is avoided by rural women for the fear of
  causing pruritis.
• Papaya is universally forbidden thinking it is
  an abortifacient.
• Greendal is restricted for fear of infections
  in the child and the mother.
• Green leafy vegetables were restricted for fear
  of loose motions in the child.

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Special food items

• Kayam- a special food preparation which is made
  up of jaggery, asafetida, cloves will be eaten
  daily for 3 days postnatally by most of the
  rural mothers to get the uterus involuted
  quickly.
• Fried jeera( a spice) rice along with the food
  to warm up the body postnatally will be taken by
  rural mothers.
• Alcohol-Few pregnant mothers will consume
  alcohol for the same purpose
• All the postnatal women think ,if they dont
  keep their body warm ,they will go into shock.

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PREVALENCE OF DIETARY CUSTOMS
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REASONS FOR DIETARY CUSTOMS
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• Customs regarding-
• Restwork
• Personal hygiene,
• Breast feeding

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Rest work

• Antenatally, rest will be taken during pregnancy
  by all women, more so in urban women.
• Postnatally, all women prefer to take rest to
  ease their weakness and regain their strength .

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Personal hygiene

• Rural women will be given head bath on 11th day
  as the vaginal discharges stop by that day.
• Till then, they will take sponge bath only.

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Breast feeding

• Colostrum is discarded mainly by rural women due
  to their illiteracy. They call it witchs milk.
• Feeding is commenced on the first day by half of
  the women only.
• If feverish, feeding will be stopped.

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REST, HYGIENE BREAST FEEDING CUSTOMS
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REST, HYGINE BREAST FEEDING CUSTOMS
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Health role of the customs

• This is difficult to define .
• Most of the general customs appear to be
  traditional in nature, intermingled with the
  culture and carried out as conventions as per the
  advice of the elders. .
• Seemantham appears to be having positive
  psychological health influence as it causes proud
  ness and self confidence in women because
  motherhood gives perfection woman hood in Indian
  culture.

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Health role

• Going to parents home ,during the first
  pregnancy , gives the woman the opportunity to
  be away from her husband and sex, and to have
  rest, to learn mother craft and of getting
  accustomed to the place of delivery.

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Health role

• Traveling after completion of 7th month of
  amenorrhea can be approved as healthy as risk for
  abortion lessens.

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Health role.

• Eclipse fear and papaya as the causes of
  fetal damage are so deep rooted even the
  educated women will not take risk.
• These are so strong , there is no scope for even
  studying the association.

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Health role

• Colostrum discarding,
• taking less food antenatally,
• Taking harmful alcohol and Kayam etc,
• avoiding nutritious dals , leafy vegetables,
  fish in food , and water antenatally
• ---are all unhealthy customs

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Nutritional education

• Nutritive values of the various foods to be
  explained to the women, elders, dais to eliminate
  unnecessary restrictions.
• They must think that pregnancy is physiological
  and there is no need for unnecessary restrictions
  of food

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Dais training

• The rural women are practicing these customs on
  the advice of either their elders or the old
  traditional dais who conduct deliveries in the
  villages. .
• Hence it is important first to change the
  attitude of these elders and dais regarding the
  customs by giving them proper training.

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conclusions

• As most of the customs are traditionally based,
  culture oriented and sensitive , a careful
  approach of health education of all reproductive
  women is to be planned for without hurting
  their cultural feelings.