Week 6 - Kimberly Pariyavanh

When reading the articles by Abudhail and Thasanoh et. al., I was reminded of the cultural beliefs related to postnatal care held by my sister-in-law. When she gave birth to her first daughter, I noticed that she applied certain oils and massaged the baby after giving it a bath. What surprised me and my other family members most was how my sister-in-law used a red and pink-like lipstick to dot the center of the baby’s forehead. She explained to us that it was a way to ward off unkind spirits. Some family members were not familiar with this practice and so were a bit skeptical of the act. Although the act was unfamiliar to myself and my family members, it still does not take away the validity of my sister-in-law’s action. I feel that in our Lao culture, there are also acts that one can do to help ward off unkind spirits but the acts just differ from the ones that my sister-in-law knows from her Filipino culture.

The Abudhail article was an insightful reading for me as it partially looked at the critique of cultural practices and beliefs related to postnatal care. It seemed that pediatricians usually had a counter for the care that the Jordanian mothers engaged in. The postnatal care that these women engaged in were sometimes considered harmful for their children by pediatricians. While reading about this in the article, I began to wonder how are the cultural practices/beliefs maintained if they are considered harmful?

(Illustration by Martha von Maydell -- The image is used to represent the intimacy between a mother and her child. I think that everything a mother does for her child is done with the intent to care for and raise a healthy child.)