Reflexions about the value of breastfeeding as a health practice: a nursing contribution

Valdecyr Herdy Alves,Cléria Maria Calheiros Da Silva Herdy Alves Alves,Vitória Regina Petters Gregório,Maria Bertilla Lutterbach Riker Branco,Rosangela De Mattos Pereira De Souza,Diego Pereira Rodrigues

doi:10.1590/s0104-07072014000100024

Valdecyr Herdy Alves, Cléria Maria Calheiros Da Silva Herdy Alves Alves + Show 4 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1590/s0104-07072014000100024

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Abstract

The study aims at the identification and analysis, under the view of the nurses, of the axiological value process of the promotion, protection and support related to the maternal breastfeeding. It presents a qualitative and descriptive approach. 11 acting nurses had participated on the Program of Maternal Breastfeeding - Amiga da Amamentação (Breatsfeeding Friend) Basic Unit Initiative in Rio de Janeiro city. In the analysis, the formulation of thematic categories and the articulation with Max Scheler Value Theory were chosen. The data demonstrated the operational form linked to the guidelines of Health Ministry, as nutritional approach, instead of recovering the breastfeeding woman as a familiar and social value of the care net, which threatens the value of breastfeeding and prevents the entire potential of feeling/knowing/doing. We conclude that the comprehension of the value of care related to biological, cultural and social aspects, grants the breastfeeding caring quality and that it has to be more and more valued and stimulated, as breastfeeding deepens the affection link between mother and child.

Highlights

Breastfeeding takes on different meanings, according to various cultures, breastfeeding becomes a habit associated with social determinants and cultural manifestations, influenced by the same conceptions and values indicated in the process of socialization of the woman.[1]
The Ministry of Health survey, conducted in all Brazilian capitals and in the Federal District, summing information about 34,366 children, concluded that the mean duration of breastfeeding in the country increased in the capitals and the Federal District, from 296 days in 1999, to 342 days, in 2008
The reflections about the topic in focus, approaching the studies of Max Scheller, permit the perception of the need to uncover the thinking of nurses who work with pregnant and postpartum women, and for the breastfeeding mothers with regard to the valuation of the act of breastfeeding

Summary

Introduction

Breastfeeding takes on different meanings, according to various cultures, breastfeeding becomes a habit associated with social determinants and cultural manifestations, influenced by the same conceptions and values indicated in the process of socialization of the woman.[1]. What is the meaning of maternal breastfeeding?. To breastfeed means to nurse, suckle, lactate, feed, nourish. Lactation is synonymous with breastfeeding, from the point of view of its definition, coated in the same functional connotation of breastfeeding or raising the child with the milk that is produced. The Ministry of Health survey, conducted in all Brazilian capitals and in the Federal District, summing information about 34,366 children, concluded that the mean duration of breastfeeding in the country increased in the capitals and the Federal District, from 296 days in 1999, to 342 days, in 2008. The median duration of exclusive breastfeeding reached 51.1 days (1.8 months), while breastfeeding supplemented by other foods was 341.6 days (11.2 months), in the group of Brazilian capitals and the Federal District.[3]

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