Postnatal Care Practices among the Malays, Chinese and Indians: A Comparison

Abstract

Abstract. In Malaysia, each race has its own traditional medicine practice which has existed for hundreds of years before the coming of modern medicine. Also, each race has many kinds of practices that had been around maintaining the health care of the respective community. All of these races or ethnic groups regard that it is very important for new mothers to be nursed back to health and thus each has its own specific and special postnatal or maternity care. The treatment during the postnatal or confinement period is generally considered to be good and safe and can help the new mother to gain back her health to the pre-pregnancy status. It is also belief that the ingredients used are natural and usually do not caused harm to the mother's condition. Hence, this paper is the result of the study on the traditional postnatal care practiced by the Malay, Chinese and Indian communities in Malaysia. This study was conducted through interviews and review of literature. The results obtained showed that there are a variety of treatments and practices during postnatal or confinement period for each of the race. In addition, traditional postnatal care during confinement are still being sought after and followed by the different races in Malaysia.

Predictors of SLE relapse in pregnancy and post-partum among multi-ethnic patients in Malaysia

“…This observation can be explained by the fact that Chinese patients tend to have prior renal involvement and the literature reported a higher risk of relapse in patients with prior history of LN [7, 9, 11, 48, 62]. There are considerable differences in the post-natal practices among different ethnics in Malaysia [63]. Medicinal plant or herbs intake is a common practice during post-natal period among Malay [64] and whether this may influence the SLE disease activity is not well studied.…”

Temporal Changes in Breast Milk Fatty Acids Contents: A Case Study of Malay Breastfeeding Women

“…Malay women were selected as they are known to breastfeed longer on average than other ethnic urban populations [ 14 ]. In addition, Malay women are known to have culturally different dietary practices during pregnancy and postpartum that might affect the milk contents [ 15 , 16 ].…”

A preliminary study of Literature review on health and media literacy in the year 2015 until 2020

“…The duration of postpartum care will differ amongst individuals however the decision of practicing postpartum care post-delivery is the same. The slight differences observed in the concept and practice between the three races is due to the different culture inherited from the elderly (Yusoff et al, 2018). Results showed 232 out of 235 women (98.7%) practiced different traditional methods during postpartum period.…”

“…Additional public health activities, such as immunization campaigns, nutritional programmes, family planning services, alleviation of poverty, provision of education and empowerment, access to housing, have made significant impact on maternal health and reproductive services (Achanna, Krishnaswamy, Ponnampalam, & Bondhu, 2018). The slight differences observed in the concept and practice between the three races is due to the different culture inherited from the elderly (Yusoff, Amat, Naim, & Othman, 2018). It appears that regardless of whether they live in the most traditional or the least traditional locations, the Temiar lineage and societal norms in the form of taboos during the female reproductive cycle are handed down to the new generation by their elders (Syed Abdullah, Nilan, & Germov, 2016).…”