Representações sociais de nutrizes sobre amamentação

Abstract

Despite all the benefits of breast milk for the health of children and women, breastfeeding can still be an experience permeated by difficulties and complications. The objective of this research was to analyze the social representations (SR) of nursing mothers about breastfeeding. This is a cross-sectional and qualitative observational study, extended by the SR Theory. The sample was made up of 100 nursing mothers selected at random attended by the Human Milk Bank (BLH) team at the University Hospital of the Federal University of Maranhão – Maternal and Child Unit, at the BLH and in the Rooming-in Collection Room, in the second half of 2023. For the data collection, for the 100 participants were used the Mini Mental State Examination, a form with sociodemographic and obstetric variables and the inductive term “breast milk” for the Free Word Association Technique. The semi-structured interview script was followed with 27 nursing mothers from the total sample, until theoretical saturation was observed, with two proposed questions: “What does breastfeeding mean to you?” and “Tell me about the milk that is coming out of your breasts”. The analysis of free evocations was carried out using the openEvoc 0.95 software, generating a four quadrant chart. The interviews resulted in two textual corpora that were developed with support from the IRaMuTeQ 0.7 alpha 2 software, generating dendrograms for Descending Hierarchical Classification, Similitude Analysis graphs and Word Clouds. The RS about breastfeeding and breast milk shared by nursing mothers are anchored in meanings of importance for the health of their children as it is the way they feed them, in addition to attributing the feeling of love to this act without, however, mentioning any benefit to their own health. Also, they revealed RS about breast milk as a “good, wonderful, sufficient and healthy food”. They recognize the importance of colostrum, and share milk production as a sign of successful breastfeeding. It is crucial that health professionals, in addition to the advantages of breastfeeding for maternal health in individual consultations and group educational activities, increase women's interest in practicing breastfeeding from the beginning of the pregnancy-puerperal cycle. It is also important to inform nursing mothers about the characteristics of milk that occur at all stages of lactation, and teach appropriate breastfeeding management with the aim of reducing complications and the risk of early weaning. It is recommended to investigate the SR of nursing mothers regarding the benefits of breastfeeding for themselves, as, from this study, it was identified as a knowledge gap which is the set of values, beliefs and ideas developed by this public with regard to to see themselves as protagonists of breastfeeding and motherhood.