Trends in Breastfeeding and Associated Factors in a Primary Healthcare Service in the South of Brazil: 2004 to 2015

The aim was to monitor the frequency of Breastfeeding (BF) and Exclusive Breastfeeding (EBF) in a Primary Healthcare Service, between the years of 2004 to 2015. This is a historical series is composed of eight cross-sectional surveys that were carried out during the annual vaccination campaigns. A total of 6027 children were evaluated, with a mean age of 6.2 months. There was a significant increase in the rates of BF (7.2%) and EBF (9.5%) in children less than four months old. In infants from four to five months old, a substantial decline was observed in the EBF rate between 2010 and 2015 (6.3%). The frequency of BF had a 10.1% increase in infants from six to nine months old and remained stable in children from 10 to 11 months of age. Among children less than six months old, monitoring by the health service had a positive impact on the frequency of BF (p < 0.001) and EBF (p < 0.001). The better BF and EBF rates seen in this study in infants followed up by the primary healthcare centers reinforce the evidence on the importance of expanding and qualifying primary healthcare as support for mother and child healthcare.