Many mothers do not know how to clean a baby’s umbilical cord, Research
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Many mothers and health care providers do not know how to clean a baby’s umbilical cord according to KEMRI research
Many mothers and health care providers do not know how to clean a baby’s umbilical cord according to KEMRI research.
The research findings explain the rise in the number of infections and even deaths resulting from sepsis.
The study done in Nyandarau County on women who had delivered at JM Kariuki Hospital revealed that all the women interviewed had no skills in cord care and didn’t perform correct cord care practices.
The study, which was carried out by the Kenya Medical Research Institute (Kemri) to identify the potential reasons for the rise in neonatal sepsis cases at the hospital’s pediatric department, also showed that 6 out of 10 mothers did not perform good practices of washing the baby, and 17% did not wash them at all.
“From the interviews, 100 percent of the mothers had no skills in cord care and thus, didn’t perform correct cord care practices.
Some 33 percent had knowledge of correct cord care while 67 percent didn’t perform good practices of washing the baby,” states the study.
Neonatal sepsis is a major threat to the lives of newborn babies. It is a blood infection that occurs in an infant younger than 90 days old. It possesses adverse health and economic effects as the mother and the baby are admitted, leaving their families unattended.
“It is therefore important to ensure a safe delivery process, sterility in handling the babies’ cord and overall cord care and baby hygiene,” states the study.
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From the study findings, 34 percent of the cords had staphylococcus aureus (causes skin and soft tissue infections such as boils), 33 percent had streptococci (causes throat and skin infection) while 16.6 percent had pseudomonas growth (spread to people in health care settings and can cause serious infections).
A total of 10 nurses aged between 30 and 51 years were interviewed on cord care practices, 20 percent said they did not apply anything on the cord, 20 percent used surgical spirit and 20 percent were not aware of the current updates.
“There’s no uniform way of cord care among nurses. We recommend that the pediatrician assists in the formulation of standard operating procedures for cord care and sensitization on the best practice of cord care should also be done to all health care workers,” the study suggests.
It also recommends that all mothers be shown how to clean cords before discharge.
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