[Breast feeding: assuming risks or guaranteeing benefits]. / Amamentar: uma questão de assumir riscos ou garantir benefícios.

ABSTRACT

The development of several action of promotion of the breastfeeding seems do not reach many of the variables that determinate the breastfeeding course. With the proposal of understanding what makes the woman decide about breastfeeding or wearing, this study was developed trying to get the conscious meaning of the breastfeeding experience for the woman, how the importance of the breastfeeding is shown by the woman's action and develop a theoretical sample that represents the experience of breastfeeding for the woman. Based on the theoretical presupposition of the Symbolic Interactionism and taking the Grounded Theory as the methodology, we described the breastfeeding based on the woman's point of view. The research shows that the woman experiences the breastfeeding from a process that evaluates and gives value to it, and that is understood by the themes Evaluating the capability of breastfeeding, Evaluating the woman's feeling and Taking Decisions which the central phenomenon, representative of the process, is called WEIGHING THE RISKS AND BENEFITS. This study shows that the elements that give the policies for the breastfeeding result from the relation between the action of breastfeeding and several significant symbols shown in the interactive situations experienced by the woman.