Conhecimento sobre aleitamento materno entre puerpéras em um hospital do extremo sul do Rio grande do Sul

Abstract

Objective: To evaluate the knowledge about breastfeeding of women giving birth in a maternity hospital in the far South of Brazil. . Method: Cross sectional study with 78 women who gave birth in the Hospital Santa Casa de Caridade de Jaguarão, Rio Grande do Sul. Data were collected with the help of a questionnaire covering socioeconomic situation, reproductive history, current pregnancy, and medical and family influences on breastfeeding. The knowledge and practices of breastfeeding were evaluated by a series of assertives on breastfeeding, based on the Manual of Primary Care of the Brazilian Ministry of Health. For each of them the women should say whether they agreed, disagreed, or did not know. Data were entered with the software EpiInfo, and analysed with Stata. The chi-square test was used to verify differences between proportions, and the t-Student test to compare means. . Results: The knowledge score (1 for correct, zero for incorrect or do not know) ranged from 6 to 15, mean (SD) values 11.3 (2.1). Mean scores were not statistically different when compared with level of schooling, information on breastfeeding during antenatal care, moteranal personal history of being breastfed, and breastfeeding patterns of previous children. The only variable significantly associated with the knowledge score was maternal self-perception of their knowledge on breastfeeding (p=0.034). Knowledge of mothers on breastfeeding came more often from their families than from medical services, and antenatal care services rarely informed on breastfeeding. Conclusion: The assertives used to evaluate knowledge of breastfeeding seemed to be appropriate, but some of them should be replaced or modified in the future. The study showed that breastfeeding should be better discussed during antenatal care. A series of measures to improve the knowledge on breastfeeding are proposed, including protocols to be adopted by antenatal care services and in the immediate post-partum care.