EXCLUSIVE BREASTFEEDING and ASSOCIATED FACTORS in MOTHERS WHO ATTEND HEALTH ESTABLISHMENTS of LIMA, Peru

Introduction: Breastfeeding is a natural biological process that is of utmost importance during the development of newborns. Objective: To find the association between exclusive breastfeeding and various factors at different times: during gestation, during birth and in the puerperium in mothers who come to DIRIS Lima Centro health centers. Methods: A survey was used to find out the factors associated with exclusive breastfeeding, such as the number of prenatal check-ups, talks given, and whether she had breastfed her child in the last 6 months. The data obtained were statistically processed to obtain the values of Odss Ratio and association variables. Results: Of the 140 mothers surveyed with less than 12 months of lactation, 77.85% stated that they had attended six prenatal controls, this attitude had a statistically significant relation with Exclusive Breastfeeding (p: 0.012). Vaginal delivery was found to be significantly associated with Breastfeeding. However, the use of milk formula could be a risk factor (p < 0.001). Conclusion: Three factors were found to be associated with SCI: attendance to six pre-natal controls, vaginal delivery and as a risk factor, the use of milk formula, one in each time period, before, during and after delivery.