PADRÃO ALIMENTAR NOS PRIMEIROS TRÊS MESES DE VIDA DAS CRIANÇAS NASCIDAS NA CIDADE DE PELOTAS-RS

Abstract

Objective: Study the feeding pattern in the first three months of babies born in the city of Pelotas. Methods: Prospective cohort study, with babies born between September of 2002 and May of 2003. One included 2741 babies whose mothers were interviewed at the maternity ward and a random sample of 30% was followed up on the first and third month of age. The data were subjected to uni, bi and multivariate analysis, and only the variables with a p<0,05 were considered as associated. Results: Among the 951 babies followed up on the first month, 60% were under exclusive maternal breastfeeding, and 105 were already weaned. The fact that the mother did not work outside, smoking during pregnancy, father s educational level lower than four years and the use of a pacifier were associated to weaning. On the third month, one third had been weaned, 39 % received maternal milk exclusively, and 59% used a bottle. Smoking during pregnancy, school education and the use of a pacifier were kept associated. There was an increase in the use of a pacifier from 56% to 66% respectively. Conclusions: When compared to previous studies, an improvement on the rates of breastfeeding was evidenced, though still lower than recommended by the WHO, which highlights the need for an encouragement to the exclusive maternal breastfeeding practice during the pre-natal and early months of age