Breastfeeding promotion actions at daycare centers in the city of São Paulo

ABSTRACT This study describes the planning, implementation, and monitoring of actions to promote Breastfeeding (BF) in the Municipal Education System of the city of São Paulo. We established a set of four actions: elaboration of instructional material, training of daycare centers employees, development of a communication campaign, and monitoring. Instructional material was elaborated to guide the maintenance of BF after the child’s enrollment and videos were produced to disseminate the information. Annual training in all territories of the city was provided to guide pedagogical interventions. The campaign, called CEI Amigo do Peito, established criteria to recognize daycare centers committed to BF promotion. The number of daycare centers committed to BF went from 93 (2018) to 875 (2022). Electronic form was sent to all daycare centers to evaluate the following indicators: interest of family members in maintaining BF, room available for breastfeeding, development of projects, presence of mothers breastfeeding, and delivery of breast milk. Respondents’ adherence ranged from 40.8% to 50.9%. The results show the urgency of shared responsibility among government sectors to promote BF.