Revista Gestão & Saúde (Jan 2013)
THE KNOWLEDGE OF MOTHERS ON THE PREPARATION OF THE BREAST AND BREASTFEEDING
Abstract
Objective: To analyze the knowledge of the preparation of the breast and breastfeeding (BF) of postpartum women in St. Louis Hospital in the city of Cáceres, southwestern state of Mato Grosso. Methods: This is cross - sectional a quantitat ive and qualitative study, conducted with 25 mothers in the obstetrical clinic of the St. Louis Hospital. Participants were considered the mothers older than 18 years admitted to hospital during the collection period, who agreed to participate. We applied a semi - structured collection, containing open and closed questions, during the months of September and October 2010.Results: The mothers had a mean age of 25 years, 56% and 80% werecohabiting home, the majority (44%) had incomplete primaryeducation. Almost all (96%) underwent prenatal care with an average of six visits, the number recommended. However, 60% did not receive counseling about breastfeeding during prenatal care. 20% of mothers had difficulty breastfeeding, 60% of these were secundiparous. Most (76%) said it is important to prepare the breast for breastfeeding. Among those who had had breast care, only 10% had difficulty reastfeeding. The support in the management of breastfeeding was found that 64% of the total counted with the aid, with 43%of the support out from a professional nurse.Conclusion: explicit is the need for nursing professionals to bepersistent in health education activities, aimed at improving the educational prenatal returned to the clinical management of reastfeeding, so that the target audience, the woman - mother -nurse and her family, are achieved.