Interamerican investigation of infant mortality: various aspects of maternal breast feeding in Recife and developing programs
dos Santos, I.
Boletin de la Oficina Sanitaria Panamericana. Pan American Sanitary Bureau 81(5): 399-404
1976
ISSN/ISBN: 0030-0632 PMID: 135565 Document Number: 101146
Of a sample of 1029 children under 5 yr of age studied during the 1st yr of the Inter-American Investigation of Mortality in Childhood in Recife, Brazil, 136 were not breast-fed at all, 646 were breast-fed for < 1 month, 139 1-2 months and 60 for more than or equal to 3 months. 64.7% were from low-income families unable to afford adequate artificial feeding. Of the mothers who did not breast-feed at all, 80% gave illness or going to work as the reason. Among the 893 breast-fed cases (including 48 where the length of breast-feeding was not known), 76.4% of mothers said they stopped breast-feeding for reasons connected with the child (e.g. rejection and illness) and 23.6% for reasons relating to the mother (such as illness and thin, salty or insufficient milk). An account is given of measures taken to encourage breast-feeding, e.g. a tape recording is used at the Neonatology Service in Recife to explain to the mother the importance of breast-feeding, and education on breast-feeding has been intensified in antenatal and infant welfare clinics.