Breastfeeding promotion actions at daycare centers in the city of São Paulo

Abstract

This study describes the planning, implementation, and monitoring of actions to promote Breastfeeding  (BF) in the Municipal Education System of the city of  São Paulo. We established a set of four actions:  elaboration of instructional material, training of  daycare centers employees, development of a  communication campaign, and monitoring.  Instructional material was elaborated to guide the  maintenance of BF after the child’s enrollment and  videos were produced to disseminate the information. Annual training in all territories of the city was  provided to guide pedagogical interventions. The  campaign, called CEI Amigo do Peito, established  criteria to recognize daycare centers committed to BF  promotion. The number of daycare centers committed  to BF went from 93 (2018) to 875 (2022).  Electronic form was sent to all daycare centers to  evaluate the following indicators: interest of family  members in maintaining BF, room available for  breastfeeding, development of projects, presence of  mothers breastfeeding, and delivery of breast milk. Respondents’ adherence ranged from 40.8% to 50.9%. The results show the urgency of shared responsibility among government sectors to promote BF.