Aleitamento materno: conhecimento e prática das mulheres em puerpério imediato em uma cidade da fronteira oeste/RS

Abstract

Breast milk is the first supply of food source that the child should receive after birth as it is essential for survival during the onset of extrauterine life. Objectives: to evaluate the knowledge and practice of puerperal women regarding breastfeeding in São Patrício Hospital, located in the city of Itaqui / RS. Methods: This is a descriptive, quantitative study with a sample of 49 puerperal women, where a questionnaire was applied to evaluate the levels of knowledge and practice about breastfeeding (MA), according to acceptability and interest, by signing the Term of Free and Informed Consent. Results: the sample consisted of puerperae with mean age of 26.4 ± 7.0 years. When analyzing the data according to the knowledge reported by participants about breastfeeding, 79.6% of the puerperae reported that they were informed about breastfeeding during pregnancy and 75.5% of the women interviewed carried out breastfeeding. Given that the exclusive breastfeeding from this practice obtained a predominance of 67.3%. Conclusions: the mothers interviewed presented satisfactory knowledge about breastfeeding, where it was verified that the practice of breastfeeding also obtained favorable results.