Breastfeeding in Depressed Mother-Infant Dyads

Abstract

Depressed versus non-depressed mothers were interviewed on their breastfeeding practices and perceptions of their infants' feeding behavior when their infants were eight-months-old. The depressed mothers less often breastfed, they stopped breastfeeding their infants significantly earlier in infancy and they scored lower on a breastfeeding confidence scale. Independent of maternal depression, mothers who breastfed rather than bottle fed their infants had higher confidence levels and rated their infants as less alert and less irritable during feedings.