title: [The practice of breast feeding in rural communities of a semi-arid area of Bahia].
abstract: A Research project in the establishment and duration of total and exclusive breast-feeding in rural communities of Cansação, BA, Brazil, is presented. It included 226 children, from zero to two years old, of families of peasants living on small-holdings in one of the driest and poorest regions of the Brazilian Northeast. The data were collected through questionnaires answered by mothers or any adult responsible for the child during 1988 and 1989. It relates to all children from these families who were two years of age at the time of the study. The survival time was the statistical method used to calculate the median duration of breast-feeding; 91.6% of the 226 children started to be breast-fed. This finding shows that the establishment of the breast-feeding was high. The median duration of total breast-feeding was of 90.28 days and exclusive breast-feeding presented a median duration of 0.1 day. Through the establishment of breast-feeding can be considered high, the median duration of total breast-feeding is extremely short and that of exclusive breast-feeding insignificant.
authors.affiliation: Escola de Nutrição, Universidade Federal da Bahia, Salvador, Brasil.
authors.forename: A M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Assis
authors.forename: M da S
authors.initials: Mda S
authors.lastname: Prado
authors.forename: M do C
authors.initials: Mdo C
authors.lastname: Freitas
authors.forename: R de C
authors.initials: Rde C
authors.lastname: Silva
authors.forename: L B
authors.initials: LB
authors.lastname: Ramos
authors.forename: A D
authors.initials: AD
authors.lastname: Machado
mesh_terms: D001938:Brazil; D001942:Breast Feeding / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D015993:Life Tables; D011204:Poverty Areas; D012424:Rural Population; D013997:Time Factors
vernacular_title: Prática do aleitamento materno em comunidades rurals do semi-árido baiano.