A Survey of Home Delivery and Newborn Care Practices among Women in a Suburban Area of Western Nigeria

Context. Information about reasons for delivering at home and newborn care practices in suburban areas of Western Nigeria is lacking, and such information will be useful for policy makers. Objectives. To describe the home delivery and newborn care practices and to assess the reasons for delivering at home. Study Design, Setting, and Subjects. A cross-sectional survey was carried out in the immunization clinics of Sagamu local government, Western part of Nigeria during January and February 2008. Two trained health workers administered a semistructured questionnaire to the mothers who had delivered at home. Main Outcome Measures. Planned or unplanned home delivery, reasons for delivering at home, the details of events that took place at home from the onset of labour pains till delivery and after birth till initiation of breast-feeding, attendance at delivery, cleanliness and hygiene practices during delivery, thermal control, and infant feeding. Results. A total of 300 mothers were interviewed. Planned home deliveries were 200 (66.7%) and 100 (33.3%) were unplanned. Only 13.4% of deliveries had a skilled birth attendant present, and 47 (15.7%) mothers gave birth alone. Only 51 (16.2%) women had used a clean home delivery surface. Majority (98.2%) of the newborns were given a bath soon after birth. Initiation rates of breast-feeding were 65.3% within one hour and 95.7% within 24 hours. Conclusion. High-risk home delivery and newborn care practices are common in semiurban population also. Community-based interventions are required to improve the number of families coming to health facilities and engaging a skilled attendant and hygiene during delivery.