Despite the encouragement of the World Health Organization to ensure breastfeeding, there are contraindications that may make it temporarily or unfeasible. Considering the efforts of Brazilian public agencies to meet this goal, we sought to in this paper intends to (a) analyze offi cial documents of the Ministry of Health and State Departments in Brazil, relevant information on natural and artifi cial feeding; (b) identify in what measure available documents present information to breastfeeding mothers and to mothers that provide artifi cial feeding. Eleven national manuals and eight state was selected, published from 2007 to 2013, from the online addresses of Health Departments at the national and State levels in Brazil. In all of there was a great emphasis on the benefi ts of exclusive breastfeeding until the sixth month of life. Other pieces of information refer to the criterion of complementary feeding, care for the mother provided by healthcare professionals, dissemination of pro breastfeeding programs, rights of the mothers and cultural and ethnic features. Information on artifi cial feeding is limited to report contraindications to it.Keywords: Contraindications for breastfeeding, breastfeeding, artifi cial feeding.
Análise das Recomendações de Manuais de Aleitamento Infantil:Possibilidades e Desafi os
ResumoApesar do incentivo da Organização Mundial da Saúde para garantir a amamentação, há contraindicações que podem torná-la, temporária ou inviável. Considerando-se os esforços dos órgãos públicos brasileiros para atendimento desta meta, buscou-se no presente artigo: (a) analisar documentos ofi ciais do Ministério Palabras clave: Contraindicaciones de lactancia materna, lactancia materna, lactancia artifi cial.Currently, the debate about the importance of breastfeeding is growing, from both a cultural (Almeida & Novak, 2004) and nutritional point of view (Corona & Conde, 2013). The World Health Organization (WHO) advises that the baby should be exclusively breastfed until six months of age. After this period, the introduction of food complementary to breastfeeding, whenever possible, is recommended and that this should be maintained until two years of age. This measure is mainly designed to reduce the high global rates of childhood malnutrition, to increase immunity and to decrease infant mortality (WHO, 2009). Almeida and Novak (2004) warned that biological factors need to be contextualized to the reality of the wifemother-nurturer and the relationship established with the baby, in order to favor the adaption to the maternal condition and interposed new requirements.Santiago (2013) presented worrying data on the mean duration of breastfeeding in Brazil. According to a study conducted in 2008, the mean duration of exclusive breastfeeding in Brazil is only 54.11 days, and the prevalence of mothers who continue to breastfeed until four or six months is 23.3% and 9%, respectively. This was observed even after a long media campaign aiming to increase public awareness regarding the importance of breast...