Objective: to analyse the health beliefs underlying the Chinese custom of 'doing the month', in particular mothers' perceptions of rickets.
Design: a qualitative approach was used. Four focus group discussions were tape recorded. Translated transcripts were analysed and coded.
Setting: Yuci District, rural Shanxi Province, China.
Participants: eighteen young mothers with children aged between 12 and 24 months, five grandmothers aged between 48 and 55 years, five township clinic maternal and child health workers, and seven traditional medicine doctors.
Findings: Zuo yuezi (doing the month) is accepted by Chinese mothers as a time of respite and physical recovery. It is also burdensome to mothers, as cloistering indoors compromises both mother and baby's exposure to the sun, resulting in vitamin D deficiency and rickets.
Key conclusions: in order to reduce the rates of rickets in children, it is important to promote a more balanced and health-enhancing form of zuo yuezi that maintains necessary vitamin D status of both the mother and her baby. By understanding this custom, medical professionals caring for pregnant and post-partum Chinese women in Western countries will be able to better serve their health needs.