OBJECTIVES: to determine the secular trend of breastfeeding and the average breastfeeding period among children in the Child and Mother Program of a primary health care clinic. METHODS: a retrospective survey of the medical files of children under one year old, enrolled in the Child Care Program of the Vila Lobato Community and Social Center in 1970, 1980, 1990 and 2000 followed up for at least one year. RESULTS: seven hundred and twenty eight children, 118 from 1970, 193 from 1980, 201 from 1990 and 216 from 2000 respectively. Breastfeeding, low in 1970, increased in the following years not only among the same age group in each one of the years as well as during the six first months of the year during the three years of the study. Reduction in breastfeeding frequencies during the first six months of age was higher in the first two months of age in 1970, in the first four months in 2000 and of five months in 1980 and 1990. CONCLUSIONS: Child Care Programs as in the Vila Lobato Community are an important tool to consolidade and promote breastfeeding practices.
Breastfeeding; Childcare; Primary Healthcare; Weaning
