The purpose of this phenomenological research is to understand the daily routine of women infected with the virus of human immunodeficiency (HIV) prevented from breastfeeding. Twelve women were interviewed in a university hospital in southern Brazil. Their statements, analyzed through a Heideggerian approach, showed that the women reveal themselves as beings-in-the-world and are mainly impersonal. The way of being of de-cadence was unveiled and expressed by occupation, gossip, curiosity, ambiguity, fear, and the inauthenticity of the pact of silence and the unsaid. The helpful care mediated by a dialogic relationship between mother and son/daughter, between the woman and the professional, showed the possibility of movement from inauthenticity to authenticity. We recommend the use of direct and dialogued interaction as an assistance strategy, mediated by listening, empathy and intersubjectivity, and developed through the comprehension of the way of being of the human being in the face of the impossibilities imposed by the serological condition and in their attempt to unveil their possibilities.
Nursing; Women's health; Acquired immunodeficiency syndrome; Breast feeding; Philosophy, nursing