Doctors and Medical Staff Should Be Aware of the Following:

An Hispanic woman’s status is derived in large part by the number of children she produces, thus, if feasible, she will avoid having a hysterectomy (Phillips, 234).

Hispanics generally consider pregnancy a hot condition, causing Hispanic women to avoid hot, protein-rich foods during pregnancy (Galanti, 97).

Hispanic women tend to express immense love and concern through excessive care and attention to ill family members, sometimes to the point of interfering with rehabilitation (Galanti, 34).

Modesty is extremely important in dealing with Hispanic women, they must be provided with the utmost privacy.

Generally, Hispanic women prefer that their mothers attend to them during labor (Westman, 294).

Many older Mexican women may wear rosaries which should not be removed if possible.

"Many Mexican mothers believe in the evil eye, an evil that one casts on another causing them to become ill. In Mexican culture, babies are thought of as weak and very vulnerable to the power of an envious glance. A compliment without a touch can bring on the evil eye. Touching the person while complimenting neutralizes the power of the evil eye" (Galanti, 50).

Many Mexican women view pregnancy as a normal condition, not necessarily requiring the assistance of a physician.   Elder women provide support and information, and prenatal care is avoided.

Mexican women often chant the phrase "aye yie yie" while in labor. What may appear to be an annoyance is actually a form of "folk lamaze." Repeating the phrase in succession several times, necessitates taking long, slow, deep breaths. Thus, it is a cultural method for alleviating pain (Galanti, 94).

If possible, a laboring Hispanic woman should be placed in the same room as a patient of the same or similar culture, so that their respective expressions of pain are not burdensome or confounding to the other patient.

Mexican women typically practice a lying-in period of 6 weeks, the time thought necessary for the womb to return to normal. During this period the woman’s body is thought to be extremely weak and vulnerable to external forces. The woman is not to bathe or exercise  (Galanti, 104) during this time.

Many Mexican women will not breast feed until they return home from the hospital. They believe that they have no milk until their breasts enlarge and they can actually see it. Some view colostrums as "bad milk" or "spoiled" and therefore not good for the baby. They do not realize that milk production is stimulated by nursing, others are too modest to expose their breasts. The mother should be informed of the importance of colostrums to the baby’s health and given privacy to feed (Galanti, 103).

Mexican women often practice a custom involving a coin to insure their infant has an attractive belly button. A coin is applied to an infant’s naval and the area is wrapped tightly with a cloth to keep the coin in place. A protruding belly button is considered highly distasteful (Galanti,105). [Please note: All info on this page came from contacts unless otherwise noted.]

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