Three social representations were identified that explain the practices of adolescents towards breastfeeding and the care of them and their children, which were acquired through family communication and strengthened by the need for support due to the temporary or permanent absence of the couple, personal crises motivated by bodily changes, fear of new modifications due to breastfeeding and ignorance about how carry out breastfeeding and care during the puerperium.

Objectives: understand the structure and content of the maternal representations of Mexican teenagers during their first pregnancy. Methods: a study was carried out with qualitative methodology based on the concept of maternal representation and the theory of social representations with 30 adolescents who attended prenatal control at the Civil Hospital of Guadalajara "Fray Antonio Alcalde", in Jalisco, Mexico. The participants were interviewed with the consent of their tutors. Classical content analysis techniques were used to obtain codes and thematic categories to develop a conceptual map that explains maternal representations. Results: the maternal representation was identified: "Pregnant but reunited, a legitimated bad decision", which was composed of social meanings towards adolescent pregnancy, family dynamics, expectations towards motherhood, and the feelings experienced by the adolescent during the pregnancy. The content of the representations was heterogeneous for most of the identified categories; however, it is identified that the desire for pregnancy guides the expectations of the adolescent about her future way of being as a mother. Conclusions: the desire of women for pregnancy, the level of participation of the couple, and the social meanings of adolescent pregnancy, have an outstanding role in the development of models of maternal representations.

(analítico): la intencionalidad del embarazo se ha tratado de explicar desdediversos marcos teóricos, pero no siempre se considera el contexto cultural; por ello persistencomplicaciones conceptuales y metodológicas. A lo largo de este estudio se pretendió identificar lasrepresentaciones sociales que las adolescentes de León (Guanajuato, México) tienen del embarazono deseado y no planeado, estudio basado en el enfoque teórico de las representaciones sociales, conel uso de técnicas asociativas derivadas de la antropología cognitiva, específicamente listados libresy comparación de pares. Participaron 72 mujeres de 15 a 19 años. Las representaciones sociales delembarazo no planeado se centraron en aspectos económicos y emocionales negativos; el embarazono deseado se asoció con aspectos emocionales negativos (sentimientos de enojo y culpa por lasituación), además de que se consideró el aborto como solución.

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Background: Puerperal care and feeding of the newborn are guided by entrenched cultural meanings between women, so it is important to know and identify how they are acquired and perpetuated. Regarding this knowledge, the social representations that Mexican pregnant teenagers have about puerperium, lactation, and newborn care were studied. Methods: An interpretative study was made based on the principles of the theory of social representations. Interviews were conducted to obtain information from 30 Mexican adolescents who attended prenatal care at the gynecological obstetrics area in a second-level hospital during 2015. Classical content analysis strategies were applied to analyze the information; this process consisted of coding and categorizing information. A conceptual map was also developed to describe the social representations found. Results: In this study, 190 codes and three social representations were identified: "breastfeeding is a practice based on myths, " "newborns are fragile, " and "mother and child must be synchronized. " Conclusions: Three social representations that explain the practices of adolescents toward breastfeeding and the care of them and their children were identified. They were acquired through family communication and strengthened by the need for support due to the temporary or permanent absence of the couple, personal crises motivated by bodily changes, fear of new modifications due to breastfeeding and ignorance about how to carry out breastfeeding and care during the puerperium.