Maternal experiences while breastfeeding children with cleft lip and palate

Abstract

Introduction: Breast milk is important for child development, so there is a need for encouragement regarding its supply. However, it is known that several difficulties can arise during the process, such as baby latching and sucking, sleep deprivation and maternal fatigue, and also cleft lip and palate, congenital malformations in which the lip and/or palate do not develop properly. properly, making sucking and swallowing difficult, as well as weight gain.

Objective: Understand the experience of mothers in the process of breastfeeding their children with cleft lip and palate.

Methods: This is a qualitative study, carried out with mothers of children aged between one and five years old attended at a Support Association for Cleft Lip and Palate. Data collection took place at that institution, through recorded interviews using a semi-structured questionnaire. The reports were transcribed in full and analyzed according to the Content Analysis proposed by Bardin. The study was developed after approval by the Human Research Ethics Committee of the State University of Maringá.

Results: The main difficulties reported by mothers when breastfeeding their children with cleft lip and palate were concern about the children's weight gain, the correct positioning of the baby, tiredness in breastfeeding, the perception of the children's difficulty in carrying out the correct latch and effective milk sucking, and the fear of breastfeeding after surgical procedures.

Conclusion: Considering the findings, it was concluded that maternal experiences include both the physical difficulties caused by the fissure, as well as emotional aspects related to weight gain, tiredness and fear related to surgical procedures. The importance of professional assistance associated with an effective support network is highlighted, in order to avoid early weaning and reduce maternal burden.