In India 60% of all births occur at home. Most births occur at home and most are in
rural India. These women cannot get to
an institution or are reluctant to. The
infant mortality rates in India are also high.
In India the cutting of the umbilical is seen as impure and there is a
particular person in the community or place of birth that has this task. This person is called the dai. The dai is given this task because they are
of low caste.
Most mothers in India prefer to have a home birth and most
babies are delivered by a family member.
Mothers may not in contact with their children for at least 10 days and
up to five weeks because the child is still considered unclean. Other superstitions that come with birth is
that weighing the baby can cause influence of the “evil eye”. Birth weight can identify many things about
the child and their development but in India weighing the child means something
totally different. Their apprehension
about weighing their children come from religious beliefs and the vows they
make to their religion.
Even if a woman is of high socio-economic status she still
will probably be against the idea of weighing her child at birth because of
religious beliefs. These beliefs and
findings are very different than those in the US. Most Americans base their understanding of
child birth on science and not religion.
Birth in India contrasts births in America because of views on religion and science.
Quite enlightening isn't it?!
Bhattacharya,
A., Dwivedy,
R., Nandeshwar,
S., De Costa,
A. (2008).‘To weigh or not to weigh?’
Socio-cultural practices affecting weighing at birth in Vidisha, India.
ELSEVIER, Volume 14, Issue 6. Pgs. 199-206.
Hello Alyssa,
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing this interesting information about birth in India! It's very sad that new mothers aren't in contact with their baby for at least 10 days, I think it should be an important time for bonding.