OBJECTIVES: To describe the breastfeeding experience among teenage mothers, to identify past breastfeeding experience, and to identify events / situations perceived as obstacles to their current breastfeeding. METHODS: An exploratory study was conducted with 80 adolescent mothers in a low-risk maternity setting in Ribeirão Preto-SP. A structured data collection tool was administered three times (at hospital discharge, during consultation between 10-15 days postpartum, and by telephone one month after discharge). Descriptive statistics were used in the analyses of the resulting data. RESULTS: Among those adolescents with previous breastfeeding experience, 38.5% breastfed longer than six months. There was a gradual reduction of breastfeeding in the population of teenage mothers in this study. Problems were identified that led to decreased breastfeeding, including: nipple trauma, and inadequate suckling at the breast by the infant, but at discharge the mothers were able to demonstrate understanding of how to properly breastfeed. CONCLUSIONS: The teenage mother needs support and attention, specific to her role as an adolescent breastfeeding mother, without preconceived ideas of her being unable to care for a child due to her age.
Maternal and child health; Breast feeding; Pregnancy in adolescence
