Lactancia materna: ¿Puede el personal sanitario influir positivamente en su duración?

Abstract

Introduction. Mother's milk is the ideal meal for the baby during the first six months of life. A good health education (before and after birth) helps to prolong breastfeeding (BF). Objective. To know the prevalence of BF among a group of women and to study the relationship with health education. Desing. Observational and analytic study. Setting. Dr. Pujol i Capsada Primary Health Center (El Prat de Llobregat); Casagemes CAD's afterbirth group in Badalona, and Alba Lactancia Women's group. Subjects of the Study. 135 women with babies born between the 1st of March 2002 and the 28th of February 2003. Method. Mother's motivation for breast-feeding and the type of information she has got were evaluated. Breast-feeding period was measured from the second month of baby's life by means of a survey passed by nursing staff. Results. The average BF period was of 160 days, 22% breastfed their babies for less than a week, and 14% between a week and a month. The main variables in relation with the increase of BF are: to want to breast-feed (P=.05); mother sleeping with the baby (P=.03); to receive assistance from nursing staff while in hospital (P=.01); not to receive additional meals in hospital (P=.02); no problems during the first month of life (P