This is a study aimed at knowing the opinion of women about the quantity of mothermilk produced, since insufficient milk is one of the main reasons mentioned by women from different cultures when introducing complementary feeding in children's diet before the fourth month of life. The interviews were made at the homes of 41 women from a family health unit in the Eastern area of São Paulo City in 1998 and 1999. The majority of the mothers (82.9%) considered they were producing a sufficient quantity of mothermilk. As evaluation criteria for the produced quantity of mothermilk, they used the size of the breasts, the spontaneous dropping of milk and the mood of the child after breastfeeding. All women introduced artificial milk before the fourth month, but those who mentioned insufficient milk did it earlier (p=0.0088).
breastfeeding; human milk; supplementary feeding; maternal-child nursing
