Lindsay Ana Cristina, Machado Marcia Tavares, Sussner Katarina M, Hardwick Cary K, Peterson Karen E
Department of Nutrition, Harvard School of Public Health, 665 Huntington Ave., Bldg. II, Boston, MA 02115, USA.
Food Nutr Bull. 2008 Mar;29(1):15-24. doi: 10.1177/156482650802900102.
Breastfeeding and weaning practices are important determinants of growth and development not only in infancy but also later in life.
To describe infant-feeding practices and beliefs about complementary feeding among low-income Brazilian mothers.
Qualitative methods included focus group discussions with low-income mothers enrolled in a Family Health/Community Health Workers program in Ceará, Northeast Brazil.
Breastfeeding is widely practiced in this area, and overall, mothers are knowledgeable about the benefits of breastfeeding for their infants and themselves. Practices of prolonged breastfeeding and delayed supplementation of infants with semisolid foods emerged as a problem among very poor women. In addition, the results showed common problems related to complementary feeding practices, such as the early introduction of solid foods and the use of expensive commercial cereals and formula for weaning. Cultural factors and taboos appeared to have an important influence on mothers' infant-feeding practices and eating patterns of their children.
The results have implications for the design of breastfeeding promotion and interventions to improve complementary feeding. Improvements of the national Food Grant Program are also suggested, which are needed by low-income mothers to improve their infant-feeding practices.
母乳喂养和断奶方式不仅是婴儿期生长发育的重要决定因素，对其一生也有影响。
描述巴西低收入母亲的婴儿喂养方式及对辅食添加的看法。
采用定性研究方法，对巴西东北部塞阿拉州参加家庭健康/社区卫生工作者项目的低收入母亲进行焦点小组讨论。
该地区广泛实行母乳喂养，总体而言，母亲们了解母乳喂养对婴儿和自身的益处。在极贫困妇女中，延长母乳喂养时间和推迟给婴儿添加半固体食物成为问题。此外，结果显示辅食添加方式存在常见问题，如过早引入固体食物，以及断奶时使用昂贵的商业谷物和配方奶。文化因素和禁忌似乎对母亲的婴儿喂养方式及其子女的饮食习惯有重要影响。
研究结果对促进母乳喂养及改善辅食添加的干预措施设计具有启示意义。还建议改进国家食品补助计划，这是低收入母亲改善婴儿喂养方式所需要的。
