Social support perceived by breastfeeding mothers and its impacts on breastfeeding.

OBJECTIVES

to understand the support network of breastfeeding mothers with children born in two teaching hospitals, its effectiveness in the postpartum period, and its impact on breastfeeding.

METHODS

a prospective cohort study was conducted in two public hospitals accredited to the Baby-Friendly Hospital Initiative. For analysis, the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences software was used.

RESULTS

of 304 postpartum women, 295 (97.04%) mentioned support from the hospital's health team, and 283 (93.09%) reported having a support network in the postpartum period. Support network became effective in the first month postpartum (p=0.0001), favoring daytime rest (p=0.0005) and having a positive relationship with exclusive breastfeeding in the sixth month (p=0.0424).

CONCLUSIONS

most women considered the healthcare team as a source of support for breastfeeding and mentioned that they would have a support network after discharge, which materialized with a positive outcome for breastfeeding.