Newborn care practices in an urban slum of Delhi

Despite efforts by government and other agencies, neonatal morbidity and mortality continues to be high in India. Among other reasons, newborn care practices are major contributors for such high rates.

To find out the newborn care practices including delivery practices, immediate care given after birth and breast-feeding practices in an urban slum of Delhi.

Community based, cross-sectional survey in a resettlement colony (a type of urban slum).

Semi-structured, pre-tested schedule was used to interview 82 mothers of newborns in the study area.

Data was analyzed using Epi - info version 6.04. Fischer exact test and chi2 test were applied. A P value of less than 0.05 was considered significant.

More than half i.e. 26 (56.1%) of home deliveries, which were mostly conducted by dais (24, 91.3%) or relatives in 4 (8.7%) of home deliveries. Bathing the baby immediately after birth was commonly practiced in 38 (82.6%) of home deliveries. Finger was used to clean the air passage in most of the home deliveries (29, 63%). About 61% (28) of home delivered newborns were not weighed at birth. Rooming in was practiced in majority of the cases. A few of home delivered neonates (12) were given injection tetanus toxoid by unqualified practitioners. Use of clip, band or sterile thread to tie the cord and no application to the cord was significantly higher in institutional deliveries. Breast milk as the first feed was significantly more in institutional deliveries. There is an urgent need to reorient health care providers and to educate mothers on clean delivery practices and early neonatal care.