Aleitamento materno e introdução alimentar de crianças atendidas em uma unidade básica de saúde do Sudoeste do Paraná

Abstract

Breast milk is the most complete food for infants until to six months of age. After this period, it is necessary to introduce complementary foods that must be safe and nutritionally adequate, always together with the breast milk that must be kept on demand until the age of two years or more. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the practices of Breastfeeding and Feeding Introduction by mothers of six-month-olds the two-year-olds using a Basic Health Unit in the municipality of Santa Izabel do Oeste. Forty-nine mothers participated in this study, who answered a questionnaire with open and closed questions about the proposed theme. The results showed that the mean age of the children studied was 14 months. The mean of exclusive breastfeeding was 4.1 months and breast-feeding was 7.7 months. Of the total, 55% of the children studied began food introduction after the sixth months of life and the majority (75.5%) received these foods crumpled with a fork or kneader. Low rates of breastfeeding were found in general, and there is a need for effective studies and incentives by health professionals regarding information and knowledge about the importance of breastfeeding for mothers still in their gestation.