Exclusive Breastfeeding and Family Health

Abstract

Breastfeeding is one of the most important tools to promote children’s health. Breast milk is a complete food for children’s growth and development until the six month. The objective of this study is to evaluate the breastfeeding practices in Ribeirão Preto city, state of São Paulo (SP), Brazil and to characterize the mothers regarding social, economical and demographic variables, pre natal assistance and newborn characteristics, verify the relation between variables and exclusive breastfeeding and also, verify the exclusive breastfeeding duration. A domiciliary inquire, through questionnaire, was fulfilled with a sample of 53 children, to characterize them according to the variables and to verify the duration of exclusive breastfeeding. In the analysis of breastfeeding duration and its variables, the Kaplan Méier curve was used. The median duration of exclusive breastfeeding was 70 days. We found statically positive association between exclusive breastfeeding duration and the following variables: born in baby friendly hospital, no use of pacifiers and children accomplishment in Family Health Units.