Nowadays, the issues related to woman health, seek to get a new integrality focus. It will be able to go beyond the limited effects of a biomedical model in health. Not considering the life experience and cultural aspects of the women and their family. This study aimed to understand the influence of the cultural context during pregnancy and in the baby's care among high risk newborn mothers. It is an exploratory-descriptive study. High risk newborn mothers hospitalized in a maternity in the southern Brazil were interviewed. After thematic analyses two main categories emerged: socio-cultural context influencing the pregnancy and the popular knowledge in the baby's care. The results showed that the majority, among the women, were not influenced by their culture, thoughts, feelings and actions. In the conflict situations the professional knowledge won the credibility, upon the population.
Woman health; Children health; Family; Nursing care; Culture