Da intenção ao gesto: Aproximações e distanciamentos entre informações oficiais e percepções maternas sobre amamentação

This article reflects on the official discourse and practice s of breastfeeding in Brazil via the analysis of an ad vertisement produced by Ministry o f Health and interviews with a group of mothers. Based on the concepts of meaningful learning that points to the articulation of new information with components of one ’s cognitive structure (Moreira, 1999) , taking into account the construction of knowledge, and the concept of appropriation , that emerges from t he field of communication (Chartier, 1999), we analyze how the public sector builds the hegemonic disco urse about breastfeeding from certain scientific evidences availables and how this int eracts with the knowledge and practices of the interviewees. Although there are basic conditions to mean ingful learning of such content, we argue that the campaign adopts a vertical and unidirectional model of communication, as oppos ed to the idea of Novak about an educational event as the exchange of meaning and feelings ( Moreira, 1999). The data indicate that the official or scientific knowledge is not necessarily the most appropriate for mothers based on their experiences of breastfeeding