Mothers' cord care practices in an academic hospital in Kenya

BACKGROUND: Nearly 99% of neonatal deaths globally occur in low- and middle-income countries with about three-quarters of the neonatal deaths resulting from sepsis including those arising from cord infections. Thus, good cord care practices have the potential to reduce the neonatal deaths in low and middle-income countries such as Kenya. OBJECTIVE: Describe cord care practices of mothers in an academic hospital in Kenya. METHODS: A questionnaire was administered to 114 mothers attending child welfare clinic at 6 weeks in an academic hospital in Western Kenya. Descriptive statistics were computed for continuous variables while frequencies were computed for categorical variables. Parametric and non-parametric tests were used to check for association between maternal variables and cord care practices. RESULTS: Most mothers applied chlorhexidine (n =73, 64%) or practiced dry cord care (n = 17, 14.9%). Some mothers (12.9%) applied potentially harmful substances including saliva, ash and soil. Mothers who attended at least three antenatal clinic visits practiced the recommended cord care (χ(2) =16.02, p. = 0.03). CONCLUSIONS: Although mothers predominantly practiced the recommended cord care, some potentially deleterious practices were reported. There is need to encourage attendance to antenatal clinic in order to optimize umbilical cord care practices.