Abstract

RAMIREZ, M; NOYA, J  and  GUZMAN, C. Inicio de Fórmulas Lácteas en el primer Semestre de Vida. RFM [online]. 2001, vol.24, n.2, pp.151-156. ISSN 0798-0469.

In October, November, and December 2000, a transversal descriptive study was made to know when the milky formula (MF) is introduced to babies under 6 months. This study was held in the emergency room of "Ambulatorio Jesús Reggeti" (outpatient hospital) located in Minas de Baruta (Venezuela). It was also made to know which factors influence the selection between breast-feeding or MF. For this study, 101 mothers were surveyed. It was found that 50 babies were only breast-fed, while the remaining 51 were fed on MF. This MF was introduced before they turned three months old in 54.89% of the cases, while 52.94% of these 51 babies were fed on special baby MF, and 72.5% of the mothers justified the introduction of MF, because their babies did not get satisfied. We did not find relevant differences between both groups regarding mother’s age, marital status, standard of living, and breast-feeding information. We did find differences statistically significant regarding the mother’s educational level, and the moment of weaning.It is necessary to reinforce the exclusively breast-feeding promotion programs.

Keywords : Breast-Feeding; Milky formula; Lactation.