Breast-feeding—Principal Doubts of the Puerperas in Rooming-In

Introduction: Difficulties encountered by mothers during the postpartum period is the main factor of abandonment of breast-feeding (BF) and its replacement for other foods. Many of these difficulties come from doubts that were not clarified during pregnancy and stay at the motherhood, period of great importance for the consolidation of BF. Objectives: Identify the main questions from the puerperas in rooming-in during the application of a questionnaire regarding the breast-feeding. Methods: It was made a longitudinal study from December 2013 to March 2014. On rooming-in a Hospital Maternity in Porto Alegre was applied questionnaire created for this research. The population consisted of 150 puerperas and women, and the research was approved by Federal University of Health Sciences of Porto Alegre’s CEP under number 481 830. Results: Of the 150 postpartum women, 27 (18%) reported at least one question concerning breast-feeding. Of these, 12 (44.4%) had doubts about the correct oral position for the baby to suck, frequency, and duration of feedings, 9 (33.3%) were related to avoiding and treating breast fissure, and 6 (22.2%) had doubts regarding the continuity and the advantages of exclusive breast-feeding, and doubts about the neonatal auditory screening. Conclusion: Postpartum rooming-in mother has doubts related to BF. Identify the most important questions mothers’ have may assist these multidisciplinary teams to propose targeted actions. This is a way to generate knowledge and prevent difficulties, besides encouraging breast-feeding maintenance at least until the first 6 months of babies’ lives. Keywords: breast-feeding, puerperium, motherhood.