Aleitamento materno exclusivo e alimentação complementar: uma revisão sobre os principais desafios para os primeiros dois anos de vida entre crianças de baixa renda

Abstract

INTRODUCTION: Exclusive breastfeeding is recommended up to six months of a child's life and should be maintained, along with other foods, for a period of two years or more. The World Health Organization (WHO) defines exclusive breastfeeding as when the child is fed only breast milk, directly from the breast or milked, or human milk from another source. In order to ensure the proper development and growth of children, in addition to breastfeeding, the appropriate introduction of other foods is recommended from the age of six months, which is known as complementary feeding. OBJECTIVES: To identify the challenges to exclusive breastfeeding and complementary feeding in low-income families. METHODOLOGY: Integrative literature review conducted by searching for articles in journals indexed in the databases; Latin American and Caribbean Literature in Health Sciences (LILACS), The Scientific Electronic Library Online (SciELO), Virtual Health Library (BVS) from 2013 to 2023, using the following descriptors: (breastfeeding) AND (social vulnerability) AND (la:("en")) AND (year_cluster:[2013 TO 2013]), (breastfeeding) AND (child nutrition) AND (la:("pt")) AND (year_cluster:[2013 TO 2013]), (breastfeeding) AND (child development) AND (la:("en")) AND (year_cluster:[2013 TO 2013]), (breastfeeding) AND (food insecurity) AND (la:("en")) AND (year_cluster:[2013 TO 2013]) RESULTS: From the articles used, and the inclusion and exclusion criteria described above, 15 literary materials were selected that make up this review. CONCLUSION: Ensuring adequate nutrition and encouraging exclusive breastfeeding are essential for guaranteeing children's right to healthy nutrition and full development. Actions aimed at improving the challenges faced by low-income families, together with encouraging breastfeeding and promoting adequate complementary feeding, will have a significant impact on reducing nutritional disparities and achieving a better quality of life for these children.