Week 6: Jordanin Postnatal Care

Week 6: Jordanin Postnatal Care

Franchesca Flores

ASA 189B

Photo from IAmExpat, "Registering a birth in the Netherlands"

Personally, I’m really interested in birthing and motherhood because it amazes me so much what the human body can do and how it can create a life. Therefore, I chose to read the article, “Rural Jordanin Mother’s…Practices of Postnatal Care,” by Jamila Abuidhail. There was an interest by Abuidhali to understand and find the cultural beliefs, knowledge and practices that Jordanin women practice after they have their baby. Jordan being the one of the most modern countries in the Middle East, Abuidhail researched and did a study from the women that live in the rural parts of Jordan. There was a total of three different themes that were studied, the first being breastfeeding, where the Jordanin women would not breastfeed their baby on the first day of their birth because they didn’t feel that their milk was sufficient enough. They would then breastfeed their child the second or third day, with the addition of water and sugar if they did not breastfeed. The second theme studied was the hygiene with the cord, eyes and bathing. The Jordanin women would clean the cord with an antibacterial medicine, that was not prescribed, and would apply Kohla, to enhance the infant’s eyes and make their eyes more open and beautiful. When it comes to bathing, they would bathe the babies with salt water to fight against bad odor when sweating. The last theme, was how the infants were clothed. Jordanin women will swaddle their babies for the first two months after birth, in order to strengthen and straighten the infant’s limbs and body. 

Of course, Western medicine came in and debunked all the beliefs of these women, and honestly that was something that really bothered me when reading this. Although I do understand that the author was trying to understand concepts and beliefs of Jordanin women, but I feel that it they over stepped boundaries in this article. After they discovered the traditions and beliefs, they were quick to debunk and tell the negative consequences of their practices. That was something I personally did not agree with because they were trying to understand concepts and respect the culture, but at the same time they were so quick to tell them why it was wrong. In the end, Abuddhail stated that rural women should be exposed to this information and the negative effects in order to, “increase their health knowledge and enhance recommended practices.” Overall, I enjoyed reading the practices of the Jordanin women, but I felt that there was a lack of respect to the traditions by being so quick to state their facts, rather than just listening and understanding. With that I want to ask, when doing studies on other countries and their practices, should it be studied by someone of that culture or from anybody?