That is a very important point you stated. I will try to answer it below-
1) Incidence like this often take place in lower socio-economic sections of urban areas or in rural areas where literacy levels are often low and people tend to believe in superstitious claims more than scientific methods.
2) Women due to lack of knowledge often consider diarrhoea as a disease related to water, thus decreasing the intake of water of by the baby might help in decreasing the excretion of water and help in curing the condition.
3) Women within this criteria tend to believe on words of the elder womens of the house or the neighborhood more than a trained care giver (here in our scenario anganwadi sevikas). Thus they end up following the wrong practices, and putting their child's health at risk.
4) With all the above mentioned reasons, other causative factors like unhygienic practices of cooking, wrong methods for curing child sickness at home, lack of access to clean drinking water, and many more also contribute towards the worsening of this situation.
Suggestions, addition and corrections are most welcome from all the members.
HIFA Profile: Anjum Inamdar is a self-employed Nutritionist in India. Professional interests: Nutritional information; Nutrirional decision-making.
Email: anjuminamdar589 AT gmail.com