This was an observational, cross-sectional, descriptive analytical study composed of children aged 30 to 48 months who participated in a maternal-infant dental care program called Preventive Program for Pregnant Women and Babies (PPGB). PPGB is an extension project of the dentistry course of the Universidade do Piauí in the Iniciativa Hospital Amigo da Criança (IHAC), in Maternidade Evangelina Rosa, Teresina, Piauí, Brazil. From the total of medical records of 3,374 children assisted by the PPGB, 625 records initially filled the research criteria; from this selleck chemicals llc data, the sample size was calculated. The inclusion

criteria were as follows: complete primary dentition, normal birth weight, born at term, and good health. Children were excluded if they had tooth loss; had diseases such as dentofacial conditions;

had large carious lesions that compromised occlusion; were syndromic; had neurological disorders or cleft lips or palates; or remained in the neonatal intensive care unit. The present article is excerpted from a larger study about the implications of weaning on the oral motor system, with other variables. To calculate the sample size with the desired precision regarding the prevalence and to allow a confidence interval of 95%, a prevalence of 50% and an error of 4% were considered. The calculations were prepared using Epi-Info version 6.04b (CDC – Atlanta, Georgia, USA) in the StatCalc module, which Ion Channel Ligand Library uses the formula: s = [p (1-p)] * z2 / d2, where p is Forskolin molecular weight the prevalence in the population, z is the percentile of the standard normal distribution, and d is the maximum amplitude of the absolute value of the difference between the estimate and the population value, adjusted by a correction factor for finite populations. The result indicated that a sample of 252 children was required for the research. Correspondence was sent to the parents of the identified children, inviting them to bring their children for a health evaluation, where they were informed of the study objectives. A semi-structured questionnaire was administered to the mothers of children, with

open questions related to daily feeding habits and the use of bottle, and closed questions to characterize the following aspects of the population: gender, age, type and duration of breastfeeding, and presence of nutritive and non-nutritive oral sucking habits in the children. The data collection was conducted in the period from April of 2010 to June of 2011, by the researcher, previously trained and calibrated, aided by interns of the PPGB, who are students of dentistry of UFPI, insofar as children returned to the project. The definitions of breastfeeding recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO) were used for the study.17 For this work, three of them were chosen: exclusive breastfeeding, breastfeeding, and bottle-feeding.