Introduction:

Exclusive breastfeeding is still limited in Colombia. Despite the strategies implemented to promote it, the goal established by the World Health Organization (WHO) regarding this practice is far from being achieved.

Objective:

To describe the current situation of exclusive breastfeeding counseling at Women and Children Friendly Institutions (WCFI) of Bogotá D.C., Colombia.

Materials and methods:

Cross-sectional descriptive study conducted in a sample of 76 counselors from 12 WCFI institutions who were administered a semi-structured questionnaire with open and closed questions. Descriptive statistics were used to analyze the numerical and categorical variables, and the NVivo 10 software was used to analyze the answers obtained through open questions.

Results:

Qualified nurses and nursing assistants had the most contact with breastfeeding mothers (84% and 42% respectively). 91% of the participants had not been trained in exclusive breastfeeding counselling according to the WHO guidelines, while 60% of the sample considered that counseling only meant teaching and providing information to mothers on how to breastfeed.

Conclusion:

Breastfeeding counseling training is focused on providing information on how to breastfeed, but not on developing counseling skills. Furthermore, there is no consensus among health staff that works as breastfeeding counselors about what exclusive breastfeeding counseling is.

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