Abstract

SAMPAIO, Marisa Amorim et al. Mother-child interactive psychodynamics and weaning. Psic.: Teor. e Pesq. [online]. 2010, vol.26, n.4, pp. 707-715. ISSN 0102-3772.  http://dx.doi.org/10.1590/S0102-37722010000400005.

Breastfeeding is one of the main interventions in reducing child morbimortality, a privileged process to subjectivation, to child development and to prevention of disturbances in child-mother bond, when it is well experienced by the dyad. The study analyzed the psychodynamics involved in early weaning and late weaning, based on the interaction of two mother-child dyads with severe malnutrition, involving babies aged six and 15 months, hospitalized in a teaching institution. Qualitative methods based on psychoanalysis were used, with semi-structured interviews and observations. Early weaning seemed related to difficulties constructing motherhood and bonding; late weaning appeared to reflect an excess of maternal affection or difficulty in accepting the father figure.

Keywords : breast feeding; weaning; mother-child relations; protein malnutrition; psychoanalysis; qualitative research.