Educational Oral Health Program on Breastfeeding for the Quillasinga-Indigenous Culture

General Objective: To design and implement an educational program on breastfeeding as a protector factor in oral health, based on the Quillasinga's ancestral cultural way of thinking. Specific Objectives: To identify the different traditional models followed by this culture regarding breastfeeding. To design, implement, and evaluate, through community dialogues, an educational program. Methods: A qualitative method from a critical social approach through participatory action-research was used. Women, elderly people, community leaders, midwives, shamans, and health personnel working on the “Refugio del Sol”, Quillasinga's cabildo, comprised the population involved in the study. The research has three phases: analysis and information-gathering to establish the knowledge and the ancestors' tradition on breastfeeding in the community; a collective construction made through information, education, and communication strategies as part of the educational program where the community is involved; and implementation and evaluation of this process with pregnant and breastfeeding women from the community. Results: Breastfeeding women avoid direct sun, wind, or fire contact on their backs, and they also avoid spilling milk on the floor. If this happens, they run out of milk. In special circumstances, babies are breastfed by another woman. To increase milk production, women eat cornmeal and chocolate with cow's eye. They are unaware of their milk's cariogenic potential and the advantages of breastfeeding for the stomatognathic system. As part of the tradition, pacifiers and feeding bottles are common. Dentists do not carry out educational programs with pregnant and breastfeeding women, leading to their lack of knowledge regarding preventive methods. Conclusions: Though there is not enough theoretical knowledge about the benefits the mother and the child receive from breastfeeding, the socio-demographic characterization as well as the indigenous strictness offer exceptional conditions to build and carry out an educational program.