Mothers\' belief about infant teething in Nnewi, South Eastern Nigeria

Objective: To ascertain the symptoms ascribed to, and remedies given for teething in infants by mothers in Nnewi South eastern Nigeria. Methodology: A pre-tested, open-ended questionnaire was administered to 161 consecutive mothers attending the paediatric outpatient and the infant welfare clinics of Nnamdi Azikiwe University Teaching Hospital, Nnewi, Nigeria. Data collected included mothers\' educational attainment; attendance to antenatal clinics, infant welfare clinics; talks on teething during those clinic sessions; the stage of development and the type of feeding at the time of teething; the symptoms attributed to teething; the remedies applied and the source of their prescription. Analysis was done using SSPS statistical package. Results: All the mothers recruited for the study had basic education. Seventy-seven mothers (47.8%) had secondary school education, while 18 (11.2%) and 66 (41.0%) had attained primary and tertiary levels of education, respectively. The commonest symptom was fever, while symptom-free teething was noted by 5.0% of mothers. ‘Teething powder\' was the most frequently utilized remedy (44.1%). Other mothers (respondents\' peers) and their mothers (infants\' grandmothers) constituted the main sources of prescription of the remedies; 41.1% and 31.3%, respectively. The majority (64.0%) of the babies were on complementary feeds and at the sitting-up and crawling stages. There was no significant difference in the beliefs or remedies given by mothers of differing educational levels. Conclusion: There is need for well packaged health education on teething as a natural process at every available health delivery outlet in order to correct the misconceptions about teething, eradicate the myths associated with it, treat infants appropriately when they are sick and avoid unnecessary expenditure on drugs. Key Words: Mothers\' belief, Teething Sahel Medical Journal Vol.7(3) 2004: 84-8