OBJECTIVE: A cross-sectional survey was developed aiming to identify the prevalence of breastfeeding among children aged 0-2 years living in Campinas, Sao Paulo state, Brazil. METHODS: Data on age, sex, health care service used and feeding were obtained by interviewing the mothers or caregivers of 1,708 children during the National Immunization Campaign in 2001. Breastfeeding was classified as exclusive, predominant (including others liquids, except milks), complementary (including others foods and/or others milks) and total (sum of exclusive, predominant and complementary). RESULTS: The median exclusive breastfeeding was 68 days and median total breastfeeding was 6.4 months. In the first semester of life, 38.1% of the children were exclusively breastfed, 23.0 predominantly and 14.9% complementary breastfed. In the second semester, 36.5% of the children were breastfed, in the third 26.4% and in the fourth semester 13.9%. Children who used public and local health care services were less likely to be weaned than the users of private and non-local health care services (p<0.005). CONCLUSION: This article emphasizes the need to establish goals for exclusive breastfeeding up to 6 months of age and for total breastfeeding up to 2 years of age or more, according to the recommendations of the World Health Organization and the Brazilian Ministry of Health.
breast feeding; primary health care; child welfare
