Table 4.

Summary of care practices and challenges

Care practice for preterm newborns	The preterm newborn is not bathed until it reaches 9 months corrected gestational age
	Keeping the baby inside the house until it reaches 9 months corrected gestational age
	Windows and doors of the house are kept closed all the time
	Maintaining a clean environment (washing newborn clothes and sprinkling water around the house to control dust)
	Use of plastic bottles and bags with hot water inside to provide warmth
	Make fire inside the house to keep the house warm
	Wrap the baby with blankets
	Expressing breast milk (mothers squeezing the breast milk into a cup and using a spoon to feed the newborn)
	Couples with a preterm newborn refrain from sex until required time when couples take traditional medicine
Challenges faced in caring for preterm newborns	The preterm newborns fall sick often times
	Poverty- no money to buy paraffin, to pay hospital bills and transport, to buy warm materials and to improve the condition of the house if leaking
	Mother to preterm baby fails to do business and household chores i.e. farming and fetching firewood
	Men start having other sexual affairs outside marriage
	Lack of knowledge on how to properly care for preterm newborns