Mother of two, Shailja Panthri gave birth to her first son in India and her second in Australia.
For her first born, Rudransh, now aged-four, Ms Panthri engaged in a common cultural tradition that involves bed rest in the immediate period after giving birth and a carefully tailored diet.
"You have to stay at home for 40 days and [for] around 11 days you have to have complete bed rest, if possible," she told SBS.
"It's a traditional belief that even after giving birth a woman is prone to getting infection and many health problems can arise, like spine and back pain. So there is a strict diet you need to follow and you need to keep yourself warm."
Ms Shailja migrated to Australia two years ago and gave birth to her second son Vian just two months ago.
Ms Shailja gave birth to her second son Vian just two months ago. Source: Provided.
This time around, she says she abandoned the cultural practice after she became aware of the potential risks associated with immobility.
"The doctors ask me to move, because I had a c-section they advised me to move as much as possible to avoid blood clots. So I've not been doing bed rest," she said.
Venous thromboembolism, known as VTE, is a condition caused by blood clots and is one of the leading causes of preventable maternal deaths in Australia.
Though it's rare, there are warnings that immobility after giving birth increases the risk of VTE, particularly in cases where women have had caesareans.
Bed rest after birth is common among Chinese, Indian, Sri Lankan, Pakistani and Bangladeshi communities.
First-of-its-kind study
A new study has looked at the extent in which migrants in Australia are observing the practice in order to determine how health professionals can understand and accommodate their needs.
The research was conducted by the Institute for Maternal and Fetal Medicine at Sydney's Westmead Hospital.
"We wanted to know if they did do it and what it meant when they said they were rested, how immobile were they?" midwife and lead-author Sarah Melov told SBS.
Researchers interviewed 150 new mothers in Western Sydney, an area with a high proportion of migrant communities.
Ms Melov says it's the first ever Australian study to quantify how the practices are carried out.
"We asked things like, did you change your baby's nappy? Did you do any housework, did you do any cooking, did you ever leave the house to really gauge how immobile people were."
"We found it was a highly practiced tradition," she said.
It found 85 per cent of participants, most from Chinese and Indian backgrounds, had rested in the home in the 30 days after giving birth, while more than half had practiced complete bed rest.
Are there benefits?
Ms Melov stresses there are advantages to the practice.
"I think it would be very good for breastfeeding and for that bonding time," she says.
She adds that it offers an welcome change to the kind of pressures Western societies place on mothers after giving birth.
"If these women have just their baby to look after, I think it's wonderful and not the pressure of trying to do a million things at once. There's a cultural expectation for women to be superwomen and I think it's lovely for them to have just that time to concentrate on looking after their baby."
But she warns of the risks, particularly due to the increasing rates of c-sections in Western cultures.
"People who are immobile, and are particularly are after their baby is born, these risks are increased. So for everybody who's had a caesarean section or had a very long labor, they're more at risk. So if you practice post-partum-rest for cultural reasons, then there is a risk of venous thromboembolism."
More education needed
Mother Shailja Panthri says while she was made aware of the potential dangers, that's not the case for others in the community.
"If you were doing a complete bed rest, there is a chance of blood clots. I don't think most people are aware this. Even in hospital I was talking to some ladies, they were planning to have a complete bed rest for one or two weeks after a c-section, which is not advised," she said.
Ms Melov says the study's findings have highlighted a need for more education around these cultural practices.
Shailja Panthri and son Rudransh. Source: Provided.
She emphasises that women shouldn't be discouraged from the tradition but rather be informed of how it can be adapted to avoid health risks.
"Health professional should be aware of the different care or advice they need to give some cultural groups. So maintaining good hydration by drinking plenty of drinks, moving around it's generally preventable," she said.
"We would advise health care professionals and women from these communities t to support these cultural practices, we want to support people maintaining their cultural links because this is really important particularly in families, to maintain that link to their cultural heritage."
