Observation of daily bath of babies - Phase 2.

 

In the second phase we observed only 6 women. The local midwife who was an elderly woman and was part of the research team, tried to locate more women but in vain. 

Our aim was not to determine statistically how popular is the traditional bath among Ghanaian women. We could learn this indirectly from the doll case or with the talks with doctors or public health nurses of different hospitals.

An observation of 6 baths and their effects on the babies could teach us if there is a potential risk to the babies or not. 

Out of the 6 observed baths, 4 baths were with lukewarm water, and the other 2 baths were with hot water. The differentiation between lukewarm and hot water was by the touch of the hand and the fact that vapors came out of the water in the bucket.

One lukewarm water bath is presented in detail, see A bath to Vincentia (Lukewarm water bath.) The 2 hot water baths are presented each in

detail, see A bath to Kofi (hot water bath)and  A bath to Kwesi (hot water bath). In 2 lukewarm water baths out of the 4, the mothers gave statements indicating that they do use hot water in massaging the head of their baby depending on his or her age. In the case of Denis, a 47 days old baby, the mother admitted using hot water when he was younger. “His face would become red from the heat, implies he still had wounds inside his head. Now there are no more wounds so there is no need to use such hot water” she explained. In another case of a 6 days old baby girl that was not named yet (a baby is named in a ceremony at an age of 3 weeks old), the grandmother explained that the head of the baby is delicate and therefore she does not use hot water. However, when the baby would be a little older, she will use hot water. 

After each presentation of a bath there is a video of a baby, showing some similarity to the bath that we observed. These 3 videos were taken using a camera of a mobile phone. It was taken by a local simple woman and therefore the recording is not professional. The mothers agreed that the woman whom they know well will take these videos.

Any attempt to bring a professional photographer would not have given the opportunity to see the bath as it is done according to the tradition. Names of places and people are covered to protected them from being known by public healthcare workers.

After each video there is the translation of the conversation between the woman who took the video and the woman who bathed the baby.

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