MATERNAL INTENTION TO BREASTFEED AMONG PREGNANT WOMEN: CROSS-SECTIONAL STUDY

Objectives: to analyze maternal intention to breastfeed among pregnant women and associated factors.Method: cross-sectional study, developed with women from the 20th week of pregnancy. A form with sociodemographic and gestational variables and the Brazilian version of the Infant Feeding Intentions Scale were used. Non-parametric Man-Whitney and Kruskal-Wallis tests were adopted.Results: 97 pregnant women with an average scale score of 13.68 participated in the study. The lowest score was among pregnant women who did not receive guidance on exclusive breastfeeding during prenatal care. The proportion of women who intended to breastfeed without using other milks at 1, 3 and 6 months was decreasing.Conclusion: the intentions to breastfeed were strong among pregnant women, however, they decrease over the months, which may affect the implementation and maintenance of breastfeeding in practice. The importance of continuous educational interventions aimed at reducing early weaning is reinforced.