Characteristics of traditional midwives and their beliefs and practices in rural Bangladesh.

This study has analyzed the characteristics, beliefs and practices of midwives in rural Bangladesh. The midwives were mainly above age 30, married or widowed, and illiterate. Most of them learned their midwifery from informal sources such as female relatives or neighbours. Often, during pregnancy, childbirth, and post-partum period, midwives imposed dietary restriction on the mothers. Similarly, devices used in the cutting of the umbilical cord and placenta were not properly sterilized and potentially dangerous substances were applied at the navel after cutting the umbilical cord or placenta. There was a practice of withholding breast-feeding up to 3 days after the birth of a child. However, there were also some beliefs or practices among the midwives that could be regarded as based on scientific understanding such as the practice of cutting the umbilical cord by boiled razor blade or the belief that child death could occur from tetanus caused by the unsterilized device used in the cutting of the umbilical cord.