Prevalence of breastfeeding and its obstacles in patients with CHD in southern Brazil

Introduction:Breast milk is nutritionally adequate and is related to the reduction of various health problems in childhood. Its offer is widely recommended in health guidelines.Objective:To estimate the prevalence and obstacles to breastfeeding in patients with CHD in southern Brazil.Methods:Cross-sectional study of patients with CHD between 2 and 18 years of age. Patients with genetic syndromes and patients whose mothers had died were excluded from the analysis. The variables on breastfeeding in the first 2 years of life were collected through a phone call to the mothers, which was conducted by trained evaluators. Prevalence was described in proportions and the continuous variables as means and standard deviation. Bivariate analyses were evaluated using a chi-square test to measure the association between the variables and the outcome.Results:A total of 351 patients with CHD were analysed. There was a predominance of males (53%) and a mean age of 9.54 ± 4.52 years. Breastfeeding up to the sixth month was present in 40% of the cases.Conclusion:The mothers of babies with CHD face great challenges to maintain the supply of breast milk, whether inherent to the practice of breastfeeding or related to CHD.