ABSTRACT

Purpase

Traditional procedures as old as humanity are current issues in today’s modern me-dicine. Social and cultural characteristics influencing child care behavior and some procedures could be detrimental to the baby. The aim of this study was to determine traditional child care procedures in the central Anatolian city of Kırıkkale, a city established after extensive migration

Method:

Randomly chosen mothers were asked to fill in a questionnaire. The soci-odemographic characteristics and traditional practices of the mothers were assessed. The results were compared by using the chi-square test. The relationships between the traditional procedures used by the mothers and the age at marriage and educatio-nal status were analyzed with logistic regression models.

Results:

A total of 974 mothers aged 18-60 years were interviewed. Of these, 201 (43%) were less than 30 years old. The average age at marriage was 17 or younger for 29% of the group and the age at first pregnancy was 17 or younger in 16%. Forty-eight percent of all were using at least one traditional procedure. Swaddling was the most commonly used method (27.2%). These practices were seen at higher rates in women with education of less than eight years’ duration, among those who had married at 17 years of age or younger, and among those for whom more than 10 years had passed since their last pregnancy (p<0.05).

Conclusion:

Traditional procedures for baby care are still in use today. However, procedures that may be harmful to the baby are used less often by younger and better educated mothers. This result indicates that educating mothers is crucial and that the social fabric has changed somewhat over the years.