I never really thought much about child birth and post delivery care until this summer. Some of it brought out those gushy and previously hidden maternal feelings I had because I saw how absolutely amazing and beautiful it is. It is also such an interesting thing to study and I think really speaks to cultural competence and being understanding of how other people do things. A lot of people do not deliver how Western women do and the same goes with how women interact with their babies and what they do after they deliver. This actually posed a real moral conflict to me. Lao women do something called “yu fai”. Immediately after they deliver, mothers will bring their newborns into a room. In this room there is a bamboo mat placed over hot coals that let out carbon monoxide. This is a tradition that EVERY Lao mothers does, though there is barely an explanation for it besides the fact that it is a tradition. It has been said that it is very detrimental to the newborns neural and physical development and can “dry out” the mothers. More importantly babies can suffocate because of the lack of oxygen, this is sadly something I saw while in a maternity waiting home. Of course the baby could have had other complications, but I was left wondering if this baby could have survived had they skipped the yu fai step. It allowed me to realize that although you want to be conscious and understanding of someone else’s culture, what they do is not always right, especially when it is damaging.
This was me running into a moral dilemma and I struggled to figure out what to think about it. I still do think about and I’m not sure if I will ever be able to come up with an answer that I am satisfied with. Yu-fai