Associação entre pré-natal e duração do aleitamento materno em mulheres de uma USF de Itaqui - RS

Abstract

The present study aimed to evaluate the association between antenatal care and breastfeeding duration in women from a primary health care unit of Itaqui (RS). It is a cross-sectional study, carried out from October 2017 to February 2018 in a Family Health Unit of the municipality. Our study interviewed 69 women enrolled in the Family Health Unit called José da Luz, who had delivered a children for, at most, two years ago and who answered a questionnaire containing socioeconomic and demographic information, as well as information on antenatal care, children’s characteristics, breastfeeding and infant feeding information, and anthropometric measures. Total breastfeeding duration was defined as the total time in months that the child received breastmilk. The statistical analysis consisted of the description of the median of total breastfeeding duration, with a description of the average number of antenatal care visits performed by the women, and the proportion of women who performed at least six antenatal care visits. The median of total breastfeeding was six months, and less than a half of mothers breastfed for this period. All the interviewees had at least three antenatal care visits. When we evaluated the association between breastfeeding duration and the number of antenatal care visits, we observed that women who had six or more antenatal care visits breastfed for about a month and a half more compared to those who performed less than six visits. Although the study does not show statistical significance, we conclud that the more antenatal care visits are performed by pregnant women, the longer breastfeeding duration.