Your Childrens Health

Postpartum depression may lead to less interaction between a mother and her newborn. The Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and Columbia University conducted a study of 4900 mothers. It was found that 57 percent of mothers without depressive symptoms were breastfeeding two to four months after birth compared to only 44 percent of mother who suffered from depression. There were also differences in the amount of mothers who played with their infants at 2 to 4 months. While 91.9 percent of non-depressed mothers engaged in play with their newborns, only 87.4 percent of depressed mothers partook in play.

It should be noted, however, that mothers with depressive symptoms were no different in their adherence to safety measures. There was no discrepancy between mothers with no depression and depressed mothers when it came to ensuring the safety of their children. Practices such as laying the baby in a safe sleeping position and lowering the temperature of the home water heater were adhered to in both groups.

The study also noted that 18% of the new mothers overall reported feeling depressed symptoms in the early months after giving birth. While the symptoms do not put the child or mother in danger, it does reduce the mother’s active engagement of her new baby. The researchers noted that their study emphasized the need for more screening of new mothers for depression.

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This entry was posted on Thursday, March 9th, 2006 at 10:12 am and is filed under Uncategorized, Pregnancy and Newborns. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.