Breastfeeding as an environment preserving facto

OBJECTIVES: to determine the knowledge on breastfeeding acquired by women during the pregnant and puerperal period and to check if the breastfeeding benefits for the environment preservation were referred by the mothers. METHODS: this is a documental, descriptive and quantitative by nature research, with secondary data, collected from records of “Vamos amamentar, mam e?” ("Let's breastfeed, mom?") extension project, resultant from the mothers monitoring during the 2008 year, with a total of 116 mothers. RESULTS: most mothers are in the age group from 14 to 18 years (31.89%); 57.75% have only primary level; 62.06% have stable relationship/married; 92.24% report having received information about breastfeeding during prenatal care, among which the highlights were: exclusive breastfeeding until 6 months (45.68%); pregnant women feeding (47.41%); breasts care 28 (24.13%), while: milking, myths’ clarification and non-use of bottles and pacifiers each submitted, only (0.86%), noting also that breastfeeding as an environment preservation factor was not mentioned. CONCLUSION: the mothers hold a reasonable knowledge of breastfeeding. Health professionals have an important role in stimulating and implementing new works focused on a practice that considers this subject from a multidimensional perspective, considering the complex bio-psycho-socio-cultural-environmental-emotional factors involving breastfeeding.