Introduction:

Breast milk has been considered as the ideal food to be administered exclusively in infants up to 6 months. Its use has been associated with a decrease in infant morbidity and mortality.

Objective:

To determine the strengths and weaknesses that affect the implementation of exclusive breastfeeding in mothers belonging to the province of Chimborazo.

Methods:

A descriptive study was conducted on 171 mothers, to whom a questionnaire was applied to obtain information related to their general characteristics, as well as the strengths and weaknesses that influenced the implementation of exclusive breastfeeding.

Results:

Average age of 27 years; married patients predominated (54.38%), with primary completed (46.78%) and with a single child (39.19%). 54.38% of mothers correctly applied exclusive breastfeeding. The strength that presented the greatest significance was that related to the best growth of the children (88.17%) and the most referred weakness was the lack of rest of the mother (24.36%).

Conclusions:

There are low levels of use of exclusive breastfeeding motivated by weaknesses such as lack of rest of the mother, pain in the nipples when breastfeeding and lack of information on exclusive breastfeeding. The strengths for its use includes fundamentally the best growth and development of the child and the prevention of diseases and malnutrition.

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