OBJECTIVE: To determine the frequency and duration of breastfeeding and to identify the practices related to complementary feeding in cities of Alto Jequitinhonha. METHODS: A cross-sectional study was carried-out in the cities of Carbonita, Datas e São Gonçalo do Rio Preto. Data were collected of a sample of 450 children from birth to 24 months of age, using a questionnaire in interviews with the mothers. For the analisys, Epi Info version 6.04b and SPSS version 8.0 were used. RESULTS: The duration medians were 10.85 months for breastfeeding, 3.85 months for complete breastfeeding and 1.51 months for exclusive breastfeeding. The medians of breastfeeding were 9.70 months for urban area and 16.00 in rural area. Before 1 month of life, 33.6% of the mothers had introduced tea and 12.4% had introduced water to their infants. Meat was used by 40.5% and fruit by 44.1% of the children aged from 6 to 12 months. Living in rural area was associated with ingesting less juice for children aged from 6 to 12 months and with less juice, fruit, vegetables and meat for children above 12 months of age. CONCLUSION: The duration of breastfeeding was longer than demonstrated in other recent studies, but exclusive breastfeeding is yet little practiced. Complementary foods with low nutritious value are introduced precociously, and some nutritions foods are not given frequently after 6 months of age.
prevalence; breast Feeding; suplementary feeding
