Perception of mothers with Covid-19 about breastfeeding on infants under 1 year old

Abstract

Introduction: Breastfeeding is very essential in the development of the neonate, this should be exclusive within the first six months of life, with the arrival of the pandemic by COVID-19, it was affected in mothers who felt fear of infecting their children desisted from continuing breastfeeding for fear of transmitting the virus through the milk when feeding the newborns, some mothers had to adapt to the recommendations provided by doctors to continue feeding, taking into account biosecurity. Objective: To identify the perception of mothers with COVID-19 about breastfeeding on infants under 1 year old of age. Method: The research is qualitative with a phenomenological approach, with a purposeful sample, the information was collected through semi-structured interviews with mothers with this type of phenomenology. Results: It was evidenced that most of the mothers carried out the corresponding isolation and continued breastfeeding with biosecurity measures according to medical directions; likewise, other mothers chose to stop breastfeeding for fear of infecting their babies. Conclusions: BF should be maintained even though mothers are diagnosed with COVID-19 with the support of health staff to provide information on how to breastfeed taking into account all biosafety measures and to prevent mothers from stopping breastfeeding because of fear of infecting their babies.