Desenvolvimento neuromotor e dentição de crianças atendidas em serviços públicos de saúde do Brasil, no primeiro ano de vida

This article aims to estimate, through maternal perception, the prevalence of development signs, and determine associated risk factors among infants receiving routine health care in public clinics. The cross-sectional study included 5655 infants in the first year of life. The information regarding the child was obtained from the mother/caregiver by means of an interview. The development signs studied were: sustaining the head, seating, crawling, walking with some help or by itself, speaking, and also teething. The categorical answers (yes/no) were evaluated according to: maternal age and schooling, gestational age at childbirth, birth weight, child's nutritional status and anemia, breast-feeding, and use of pacifier. Results showed that most of the children are delayed according to the standards of neuromotor development and teething established by the Ministry of Health. Prematurity was the factor most often associated with non-reached development signs, and teething was the sign most frequently associated with the selected variables. It was verified that part of the negative results may be a consequence of the maternal difficulty in identifying subjective development signs. It is suggested that a survey to identify development signs is conducted by trained professionals to check criteria and/or adequate interventions to change the observed results.