Exploring maternal sociocultural beliefs and practices in postpartum and infant care: perspectives of mothers and healthcare providers

Culture shapes beliefs and practices around infant care, affecting maternal and infant wellbeing during the postpartum period. This study explored mothers’ perceptions and beliefs about postpartum and newborn care in Saudi Arabia to identify misconceptions and inform strategies to promote healthy practices. A qualitative phenomenological design was chosen to address the knowledge gap regarding sociocultural beliefs and traditional practices related to postpartum maternal and newborn care among Saudi mothers and healthcare providers in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Seventeen Saudi mothers and seven healthcare providers were recruited through purposive sampling: the mothers from the postpartum department of a a university hospital in Riyadh and the healthcare providers from the maternal, postnatal, and labour departments of the same hospital. Semi-structured interviews, conducted in Arabic and English between March and April 2025, were audio-recorded and thematically analysed using NVivo 11. Ethical approval and informed consent were obtained, and confidentiality was maintained throughout. Four main themes emerged from the data: (i) Cultural traditions as a foundation for postpartum care. Participants described traditional foods, herbs, remedies, breastfeeding practices, and newborn-care practices as familiar components of the postpartum period. (ii) Family, experience, and social networks shaping postpartum decisions. Participants described how they actively evaluated, compared, and combined advice from healthcare professionals, family members, social media, and their own reading. (iii) Negotiating cultural beliefs with biomedical advice. Mothers showed a thoughtful and flexible approach to making decisions after childbirth, balancing both types of knowledge based on the situation, the perceived benefits they saw, and advice received from people they trusted. (iv) Bridging the cultural gap in postpartum healthcare. Healthcare providers highlighted the impact of language and communication barriers and their limited awareness of Saudi cultural practices related to the postpartum period, often requiring reliance on informal learning rather than structured training. Culture strongly influences maternal and infant health. Our study revealed mothers’ reliance on traditional practices and the perceived benefits of those practices, while healthcare providers often lacked awareness of these practices, highlighting the need to improve cultural competence in healthcare.