Breastfeeding practices among women working in companies with breastfeeding support rooms: a cross-sectional study

Introduction: The Breastfeeding Support Room is part of the Working Women's Breastfeeding Action and is an important strategy to increase breastfeeding rates. Objective: To identify the profile and breastfeeding practices of women employees who attended Breastfeeding Support Rooms. Methods: A cross-sectional research was conducted through convenience sampling of women working in companies with breastfeeding support rooms. A semi-structured questionnaire was applied through interviews and online self-completion. The association between the duration of breastfeeding and time of room use with socioeconomic variables and company characteristics was analyzed using Fisher's exact test. A significance level of 5% was considered. Results: 87% of the women breastfed exclusively for 6 months; 60.3% had an undergraduate or graduate degree; 66% breastfed throughout their child's second year of life; 41% used their company's Breastfeeding Support Room for 5 to 10 months and 100% of women had six months' maternity leave. Women who were married or in a civil union (96%) received the most support to continue breastfeeding after returning to work (p=0.03). Conclusion: This data can be used to propose improvements to this strategy or subsidize a large-scale expansion of Breastfeeding Support Rooms. It is imperative to reflect upon future actions so that these rooms reach a higher number of attendees.