[New concepts of breast-feeding, its promotion and the education of health professionals]

Abstract

Many health professionals and institutions, both national and international, recognize the benefits of breast-feeding for child nutritional status and survival, as well as its importance as a natural contraceptive method. High rates of fertility, malnutrition, and infectious diseases, together with accelerated urban growth and the incorporation of larger numbers of women in the economically active population, have returned breast-feeding to a position of key importance in programs for child survival and family planning. The promotion of breast-feeding involves motivation, training, and coordination of the efforts of many people. Since its success depends more on education and support offered to mothers than on curative care, it is an ideal area for the intervention of nursing personnel, whose initiative in this regard can have a lasting impact on promotion programs. The present article cites the nutritional advantages of breast-feeding, its function in birth spacing, and the sociocultural, economic, and other factors that shape breast-feeding patterns throughout the world. The fundamental importance of health professionals in promotion activities is stressed, as is the need to include course material on breast-feeding in the curricula of nursing schools and other centers for the training of health professionals. A modular scheme is proposed for achieving this last objective.