Objective:
Understanding maternal perception of their child’s body image in exclusive breastfeeding.
Methods:
A descriptive, qualitative study was conducted through semi-structured and projective interviews, with 14 mothers of children aged one to five months old. An analysis of the thematic content was performed using the Theory of Social Representations.
Results:
The visual and verbal classification of their children’s body image by mothers matched the nutritional diagnosis in nine cases. Three thematic categories were identified: distance between visual classification and perception of normal weight; minimization and rejection of weight extremes; and perception of child health versus exclusive breastfeeding.
Conclusion:
Mothers reject the weight extremes, understand the benefits of breastfeeding, but they show a distancing of the concept of normal weight.
Pediatric nursing; Nursing research; Maternal-child nursing; Breastfeeding; Body image