The Intergenerational Dimension of Traditional Practices Used by Mother in Infant Care

Özet

Objective:The cultural values of society affect the living and health conditions of people. People born in close years have similar characteristics in terms of view of life. This situation reveals the intergenerational difference. Our study was carried out to determine and compare the traditional practices used by Baby Boomer, X, Y and Z Generation mothers in baby care. Methods:This study is a cross-sectional, descriptive and comparative study, and was conducted between 10th of April-10th of July 2018 with a total of 273 mothers who volunteered to participate in the research that applied to the obstetrics clinics of a public hospital. Data were collected through face-to-face interviews. Ethical Committee and related consents were taken. IBM SPSS Statistics 21 package program was used to evaluate the data. Results:In the study, 65.93% of the mothers who participated in the study were from Generation Y. There is a significant difference in terms of waiting for the call to prayer sound after the birth, milking the first milk and giving the first sugary water to the baby, burying the umbilical cord in a place that has meaning after the fall (mosque, school, etc.), applying salt to the sweaty areas (p <0.05). There was no significant difference between generations in terms of other applications. Conclusion: In our study, traditional practices that are harmless to the baby are used as well as traditional practices that are harmful. In the intergenerational comparison, Baby Boomer Generation has mostly used harmful practices.