THE TRADITIONAL PRACTICE OF OMUGWO - THE POSTPARTUM CARE FOR NEW MOTHERS

Hey lovelies ❤️
It's your favorite girl @debbie-ese 😍
Welcome to my blog 🤗

The birth of a child is unarguably one of the most beautiful and joyous moment in the life of a man and a woman. Should we talk about the excitement, the love and the eagerness that fills the air? The anticipation of the birth of a child that takes over the home creates a special and memorable vibe that can never be replicated. Nonetheless, there are some challenges that comes with this beautiful joyous moment, most especially for first-time parents. This doesn't mean that parents that have had other children do not face these challenges as well.

It can be overwhelming to take care of a new born baby considering the physical exhaustion that the mother has undergone during the pre and post delivery period. It is not an easy task to carry a baby for nine months and still undergo the pain of labour. This is the point where the Nigerian tradition of Omugwo comes to play. Omugwo is simply a practice that offers the nursing mother the needed support and rest that she needs during the postpartum phase.

Let's briefly explain the term Omugwo

Omugwo is a postpartum care practice where a new mother receives her mother or mother-in-law in her home or she goes to their home (on rare occasions) to be assisted in taking care of the newborn baby for some weeks. The main purpose of this practice is to make the transition to being a mother easy for the new mother by providing all the support she needs both emotional and physical. The Omugwo practice is aimed at helping the new mother to navigate the stress of taking care of a new born baby while she recovers from the process of childbirth.

Omugwo is a term attributed to the Igbo tribes of Nigeria, however, it is widely used by most tribes in Nigeria. In a country where we embrace communal living and hold family ties with high regard, Omugwo ensures that a new mother is duly attended to especially during the early days when she's still exhausted and have to take care of her baby. If you have been around a woman that just put to birth before especially the one that undergo a cesarean section (CS) you'd know that they need so much help to take care of themselves and the baby.

Omugwo provides the relief that the mother needs for her. She would not bother about bathing, feeding (if the breast milk isn't flowing yet and the child had to be placed on some formula), or rocking the baby to sleep until she is well rested. The new mother needs to recover after the process of birthing a child but caring for a baby may not make the journey easy for her. Omugwo makes this whole process easy by having the new mother’s mother or the husband's mother in their home to assist with house chores and more importantly caring for the baby.

Flashback to when I had my baby, I understood the importance of having my mother around to assist with taking care of the baby from changing diapers to bathing him to washing baby clothes to making food for me to eat amongs others. She ensured that my work was reduced to the barest minimum so that I can heal fast.

Speaking about healing fast, my mother had a routine of massaging my belly with hot towel to clear blood clots. This process was very painful but was highly necessary to avoid bad blood in my system. It may have been impossible to do this on my own if there was no sort of help available. In line with this, she also ensured that I take hot food as breakfast which is mostly hot pap. She religiously followed the diet for more than two weeks as it is meant to assist in the healing process. As a woman that is giving birth for the first time, I cherished the presence of an experienced mother in my life as it made the whole process seamless and made my recovery process rapid.

Well, everything that has a good side always have a bad side and this is also the case with Omugwo. With all the abundance of benefits that is attached with the traditional practices, there are some challenges that comes with it. For instance, there may be clashes between the couple and the mother or the husband and his wife's mother or the nursing mother and her own mother - depending on the situation. It may have to do with something like giving the child a herbal concoctions or rubbing a particular ointment on the child and so many other practice that they don't argree on. One party may feel it's helpful for the growth of the child and the other may see it as been old-school and unnecessary.

Boundaries is another challenge that comes with Omugwo. After some few weeks the couple may be needing their space and privacy but it isn't possible because either the husband or wife's mother is in their house. This may begin to raise some form of tension in the house and it may escalate if not well handled.

This practice is key to the recovery journey of new mothers in Nigeria. While it may come with ups and downs, the main aim of assisting the new mother to navigating the new role of motherhood and healing from the pregnancy and delivery period can't be neglected.

Thank You For Your Time and See You in My Next One.