Knowledge and analysis of the process of guidance on breastfeeding for mothers

Abstract

Aim: to identify the knowledge and analyze the process of guidance of mothers about breastfeeding. Method: this is a descriptive, cross-sectional study conducted from December 2016 to June 2017 in a hospital in Minas Gerais with 69 puerperal women. A questionnaire was used to characterized the knowledge and the guidance on breastfeeding, and data were analyzed in the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences, according to descriptive statistics. Results: a total of 59.4% of the participants received guidance during prenatal care, and 46.4% in the hospital environment after the baby was born. Regarding knowledge, 73.9% of mothers said they knew how to identify if the baby was correctly breastfed and 78.3% did not know what exclusive breastfeeding was. Conclusions: most mothers were not adequately guided about breastfeeding, and this negatively interfered with their adherence and effectiveness during this process, pointing to the disarticulation between the primary and tertiary health care levels during postpartum follow-up.

Keywords

• educação em saúde
• aleitamento materno
• segurança do paciente