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Among the changes that she has made, Meera Devi has
been resting and eating more fruits and vegetables during
The loss of Meera Devis first child was a painful and tragic this pregnancy. For her delivery, she has prepared a bag
lesson about the risks of home delivery. Consequently, the containing a bar of soap, a clean blade, a clean string, and a
clean cloth, which the DARSHAN video on birth
family decided that Sapna Kumari should be born in a
preparedness taught her to do. She has written the numbers
hospital. But other customs and beliefs, particularly the
of her accredited social health activist (ASHA) and the
tradition called Chatti, shaped Sapna Kumaris infancy in
dangerous ways. Sapna Kumari was welcomed to this world local ambulance on the wall of her home so that these
important numbers cant be lost. She particularly
with a spoonful of honey-because her grandmother
believed that honey would sweeten Sapnas speech-and oil appreciates this precaution, which she vividly remembers
was immediately applied on her umbilical wound. When she being demonstrated in the DARSHAN video on
was brought home six hours after birth, Sapna Kumari was institutional delivery.
bathed, but as part of the tradition of Chatti, Meera Devi
was made to avoid bathing for six days while she and her
baby slept and ate separately from the rest of the family.
Delivery is locally considered to be a polluting experience,
so mother and newborn are treated as being achhut, or
untouchable, during this time.
In keeping with the local belief that colostrum makes
newborns weak, Meera Devi discarded her colostrum and
fed Sapna Kumari goats milk for her first six days. Meera
Devi began complementary feeding after Sapna Kumari
turned one year old because Meera thought that solid food
harms younger children. Sapna Kumari was not fully
immunized because some of the shots gave her a fever that
alarmed Meera Devi, discouraging her from taking Sapna
for the remaining shots.
Meera Devi
a Parivartan self-help group member
She is also taking iron and folic acid (IFA) tablets. Although
she was given IFA tablets at the anganwadi center when she
was pregnant with Sapna Kumari, Meera Devi did not take
the tablets because the anganwadi worker didnt explain
how the tablets would help Meera Devi. From the video, I
learned that the tablets strengthen me and build blood,
Meera Devi said, explaining why she decided to take them
this time.
Hygienic handling of water demonstrated in the DARSHAN video on safe storage of water