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At delivery, the newborn was not breathing normally, did not cry, and was unconscious. LHV
immediately advised to take her to a child specialist – Dr. Chandia, and she was taken. The doctor hanged
the baby upside down and slapped on her back and did suction, which made the baby cry and breath, but breathing was
interrupted. It took about 1 hour from birth till the baby began to breath.
The baby remained in Dr Chandia’s hospital for two days and was given oxygen during this period. On the first day she
was fed powdered milk but on the second day mother’s milk was fed through the tubes. She was discharged on third
day.
In the first 3 months, baby suffered with mild fits, had lesser weight, and used to become unconscious while crying.
The treatment was continued by Dr. Chandia, and also dum durood and tonay totkay were done. She was also given glola
(anis seed, cardamom, heeng, nishadar in warm water) 2 drops twice a day during the forty days of birth. Besides this,
Hamdard Naunehal one drop daily was given with mothers milk. Besides this, people also said that the baby has effect
of saya (spiritual possession or possession by jinn), hence for 40 days sweet balls were made and kept on the roof to
overcome it. According to mother, these measures and medicines led to some recovery.
The baby stopped having fits after 4 months of treatment by the doctor and the breathing
became normal. The baby is still has lesser weight, but people have told her that she will gain weight. Medicines have
been stopped and care is being taken of her diet and she is being given milk and sago dana.
Rani believes that MIL is responsible for the suffering of her daughter, as this was her first pregnancy,
but MIL was experienced and she took more than 2 days in deciding for taking her to health care provider. If
timely decision would have been taken for taking her to a hospital, then the baby would have
delivered by operation. Rani said, because of this delay “I am the one who is coping with the problem till today”.
Case Study 5 (Dadu): Low Birth Weight
Hameeda’s Baby had 1 kg weight at birth (LBW) but it was not a concern for the family
Hameeda’s baby was born in the 9 th month of pregnancy. The newborn was very weak and small. On the second day of
the birth Hameeda’s mother and husband took the baby to a hospital (Dr. Hamid) because the baby had cried for the
whole night. The doctor weighed the baby and informed that he was only 1 kg. According to Hameeda, her newborn
looked weaker and smaller than even the pre-mature babies of seven months. The doctor inquired from Hameeda’s
husband if she suffered from yarqan (jaundice) and he replied in affirmative. The doctor said that since the mother
suffered from jaundice and the newborn was breastfed hence he has also acquired jaundice.
Though Hameeda knew that her baby was low weight but she did not worry about it. She said that the newborn was
taken to a doctor because she had cried for the whole night and not because she was very small and low weight. She
argued that all her babies are born weak and then they recover gradually.
The newborn was treated by Dr. Hamid for one month but his condition did not improve. Then somebody suggested to
Hameeda’s husband to visit Dr. Jokhio which he did. Later, Dr. Jokhio diagnosed that the lungs of the baby were damaged
and needed treatment. They sought treatment from this doctor for two month and the baby’s health did not improve.
After that a third health care provider, who is a private doctor in Dadu was contacted. He told that the baby suffered
from “Chatri”. At the time of compiling this case study the treatment with this third doctor was ongoing for past one
month.
Doctor Hamid had asked Hameeda not to breastfeed the baby so instead she gave 4 teaspoons of buffalo milk daily.
Besides that she also gave two teaspoons of boiled rice with butter, misri and cardamom. For three months she fed the
baby with buffalo milk, porridge (home made), butter, misri and cardamom.
SAVE THE CHILDREN l 79