Knowledge, Traditional Beliefs, and Practices of Mothers with 0-24 Month-Old Children Concerning Child Care

INTRODUCTION: Tradional practices, have been keeping up-to-date against modernized medical applications. The purpose of this study is to determine the knowledge, traditional beliefs and practices of mothers with 0-24 month-old children concerning child care. METHODS: This descriptive study was conducted with 207 mothers who applied to five family health centers located in the city center of Erzincan due to any reason between October 2014 and February 2015, had an infant aged between 0 and 24 months, and met the inclusion criteria.The data were collected by face-to-face interview method using the description form. Descriptive statistics was given as number, percentage and average. RESULTS: Approximately 40,1% of the children were between 0 and 6 months, 65,2% of the mothers received information on childcare and 49,6% of these received such information from a nurse/doctor. Some 2,9 % of the mothers used creams and powders for umblical cord falling off, 39,1% of them used procedures to protect their child from jaundice, 27,2% took their child for a stroll after the first forty days of birth, 22,7% salted their child to prevent bad odors, 48,8% rocked their child to sleep, and 58% swaddled their babies. The mean age of the mothers was 27,14 +/- 5,50 (min: 18 - max: 45). DISCUSSION and CONCLUSION: According to these results, mothers seem to use some traditional practices which may harm their babies' health. Therefore, nurses should provide childcare training and counseling to mothers during antenatal and postnatal follow-ups and awareness should be raised in the society about these matters.