Table 2 Emerging themes and related categories

1.

Caring rituals and being close to women.

• Making close follow-ups and their proximity to post-partum mothers matter

• Preparation of special food for post-partum mothers

• Sponging of post-partum mothers

• Offering services for charity

2.

Daring to provide care complications

• Managing complications using bare hands

• Applications of traditional medicines for treating complications

3.

Referring under uncertainty of services’ quality and only when complications emerge

• Deciding to take women to the health facility if fail to handle complications

• Post-partum services are used for baby’s clinic

• Formal post-partum care: valued but at the same time uncertain about its quality

4.

Weak connections between TBAs and formal health-care services

• TBAs compare their knowledge with that of formal health systems

• Acquire knowledge through experience and apprenticeship

• There is a poor link to the formalized health-care systems