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. 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.
Repeating the phrase in succession several times, necessitates taking long, slow, deep breaths. 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. Many Mexican women will not breast feed until they return home from the hospital.