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dishes. Climbing stairs is also reported to be avoided by
women during pregnancy.
“I stopped her from doing heavy work because if the
babies get aborted. Due to this the people will say
that the mother-in-law is very cruel and makes her
daughter-in-law do such difficult work in pregnancy”
(IDI, MIL-Pind Matey Khan, Jhelum).
“I did not let my daughter-in-law to do any work during
pregnancy because by doing heavy work the baby
gets aborted. One woman I know washed clothes in
pregnancy and her baby was aborted” (IDI, MIL-Utman
Zai, Charsadda).
“My daughter-in-law was very weak so I told her to
take rest and do not get tired because exhaustion
causes the baby to grow weak” (IDI, MIL- Faizabad,
Khuzdar).
“I told my wife not to go to cut wood and pick heavy
things because I feared that she would grow weak and
then the baby would be born weak.” (IDI, Husband-
Faizabad, Khuzdar).
Doctor’s advice is a motive to avoid heavy work
by some.
“Doctors advise not to do heavy work such as picking
up heavy things as it can affect the fetus badly. These
changes are brought about by the woman who is weak,
while healthy women do not bring any changes” (FGD-
Badal Bakus, Sukkur).
Number of pregnancies also affects the behavior of
the family members in assisting the pregnant woman in
household chores.
“At the time of first baby everyone takes great care
and they are also hoping that it may be a boy” (FGD-
UC 8, Sukkur)
“During the first pregnancy everyone is very concerned
and take better care of the woman. However, in later
pregnancies everyone says that everything is fine and
this is nothing new” (IDI, LHW-Arain, Sukkur).
LHWs said that they advise women to take rest
and lessen their workload during pregnancy
but only those who have the favorable circumstances act
upon their advice. LHWs said that in villages it is a custom
to have early marriages and women also work outside
home such as cutting wood. Women have large number of
children and birth spacing is not practiced which is why it
is not possible for women to take care of themselves or
lessen their work load.
“Women are advised to take rest but many do not
take much care. If a woman is too young like 18 years
old and has three babies already then how can she
take care of herself” (IDI, LHW- City One, Pishin)
“Women usually have 12 to 13 children. It is not
possible for them to take care of themselves and bring
any changes in their work routine.” (IDI, LHW- Batezai,
Pishin)
Doing any work in bending position or heavy work was
termed dangerous by the daiyan and LHWs as it can cause
abortion of the fetus. Daiyan said that it can also result in
premature birth of the baby.
In extended families, other women in the family including
mothers-in-law and sisters-in-law may perform the heavy
work instead of the pregnant woman.
“Those who do not have mothers-in-law have to do
all the household chores. However, those who have
mother-in-law or sister-in-law do not do it.”
(FGD-UC 8, Sukkur).
“I do not do heavy work during pregnancy. My motherin-law
and sisters-in-law do most of the heavy work
and divide work with me.” (FGD- Ghazgi, Khuzdar)
16 l Formative Research on Neonatal Sepsis, Low Birth Weight AND Birth Asphyxia