A tough life for mothers and babies in India

Badaam lives in a small village in Rajasthan, northwest India. She looks much older than her 33 years. The toll of losing a baby daughter to tetanus has clearly taken its toll.

"She would have been my third child," says Badaam. "We knew it was tetanus because she became stiff and blue after she was born. I didn't get the injection to stop its onset. At that time, I didn't know that every pregnant woman should be immunised."

Badaam, like many women in rural India, has traditionally had little chance to learn about how to prevent or treat common diseases.

She's also had to deal with local customs, which say that a mother and baby should be isolated in a separate room for a month to bond with each other.

This happened  to Badaam with her latest child, a girl called Kiran. She explains, "When Kiran was born, I lived in this room. I used to clean the room myself, although I was quite weak.

"When I stopped bleeding, I could come out. We burnt all the bedclothes, cleaned out the room and painted it so that we could begin to use it again. When I was in here, I was alone. Not even my husband would visit me.

"This can be the hardest time for a woman. She can feel alone and unloved. Her family may not give her anything to eat and, if she is uncared for, both she and the baby could get infections."

Save the Children is working hard to improve care for mothers like Badaam and babies like Kiran. We've trained volunteers in several villages to give advice to mothers on basic health and hygiene, and we've set up babycare centres where women can get together to share experiences and receive food supplements for their children.

"I do my best to look after my daughter," says Badaam. "I breastfeed her, and also give her other easily digestible food. But, she does get diarrhoea once in a while. She plays on the floor, and puts everything in her mouth. That's what children do.

"Now, thanks to the volunteers who visit me, I do seek medical help. I got all the vaccinations I needed when I became pregnant with Kiran. And I went to the doctor for all the recommended number of check-ups."