Abstract
Background
The donation of human milk involves social values, knowledge and organization, both for health professionals and for donor mothers, which becomes a complex issue of maternal and child health care.
Objective
This study aimed to understand representations of healthcare professionals in basic care of human milk donation.
Method
This is a qualitative research, which the proposal was adopted by André Petitat on the Gift. Twelve professionals of different categories (physician, nurse, nutritionist and community health agent) were interviewed. The analysis technique was the Structural Analysis of Narrative.
Results
Representations of human milk as an object of donation are related to its nutritional and affective value and the importance of the gift, in general, to value or not the practice, socially. Most professionals consider that counseling for donation should happen only during breastfeeding, after checking the excess milk production, which is a utilitarian representation of donation. Representations about insufficient production of milk and “weak” milk persist in care actions, which pulls away the health professionals from the counselling related to donation in opportunities to create bonds.
Conclusion
Health education to consider the professionals subjectivity and the complexity concerned to the acts of donation and breastfeeding is essential to increase the donation to milk banks.
Keywords:
milk banks; milk human; donor selection; health personnel