Popular knowledge and collective memory of care-giving grandmothers regarding the umbilical stump

This study aimed to investigate the memory of grandmothers in the care of the umbilical stump, establishing a parallel between scientific and popular knowledge. It is a part of the thesis entitled “I have kept the belly button of all my grandchildren: memory of grandmothers in the care of the umbilical stump”. It is an exploratory study, with a qualitative approach, developed in a municipality of the Brazilian state of Bahia, with 13 grandmothers registered in a coexistence group. We used interviews as information collecting technique, based on Thematic Oral History and Collective Memory. We identified that the care of the newborns’ stumps is permeated by local popular beliefs through the use of chicken feathers, potassium alum, oils (castor-oil, castor bean-oil and almond-oil). In addition, mummified stump tea has been used for the treatment of intestinal and ocular infections. These results evidenced the importance of educational actions in the umbilical stump care, making it essential for the health professionals to dialogue with popular knowledge and seek strategies to demystify rituals, beliefs and myths that could put the life of newborns at risk.