Abstract
Objective: Evaluate the food profile of premature infants with very low weight at discharge and its relation to maternal characteristics. Methods: Transversal and quantitative study that had the population 37 mothers and hers premature infants of low birth weight, who were admitted to the intensive care unit of a reference hospital in Belém-PA. Data collection was performed in the second half of 2015 through its own protocol. Results: Most women were married (51,35%), exercise activities in household (51,35%), with an income of two minimum wages (37,84%), 59,46% were from the provincial towns, 37,84% were aged between 21 and 25 years, 62,16% had completed high school, 62,16% had their babies by cesarean section. 56,76% of mothers just spent the day with their babies. All of them reported having received support at the time of breast-feeding and when asked whether they received information about the importance of breastfeeding maintenance, 97,30% answered that they received this information. The most common type of feeding at discharge was the supplemented breastfeeding (56,76%). Conclusion: It was possible to see a greater number of babies supplemented breastfeeding and maternal characteristics that were significant to this practice were: age, mode of delivery and level of education. For exclusive breastfeeding the important variable was the information that the mother received about the importance of lactation and breastfeeding. It is important to note that the health team's participation in encouraging this practice.