The University of Calgary study shows the more positive support women get related to breastfeeding, the less likely they are to suffer postpartum depression.
Emma Stuart Campbell ran into trouble in the first week after her son was born. She had been advised by doctors and nurses to make sure she nursed her baby every three hours, no matter how tired she was. It didn’t take long for sleep deprivation to drive her into depression.
“If I had received good advice in the beginning, it would have made the difference between waking up to an alarm and worrying about getting back to sleep before having to wake up to another alarm,” she said.
She eventually got more positive advice to feed her baby when he was hungry and don’t worry about a rigid schedule, but many more mothers suffer in silence.
“Normally in the population about 15% of moms get depressed in the first year after having a baby,” said Dr. Katie Chaput, Alberta Children’s Hospital Research Institute. “In our study, the moms who had positive breastfeeding supports had about a 65% reduction in that postpartum depression risk.”
The situation is severe enough that 42% of all women who attempt breastfeeding quit within six weeks. Among those who encounter problems, the quit rate is 90%.
The study says mothers should get positive, clear and flexible advice that is specific to their situation.
“It’s more about the type of support they get, so when women got support they perceived as very positive, it was something that reduced their risk of postpartum depression later on quite significantly,” said Dr. Chaput.
“We spend a lot of time around education for what an adequate feed would be, how to watch for baby’s feeding cues, how to monitor if baby seems to be breastfeeding effectively,” said Dr. Brooke Miller, Family Physician. “It’s something that is absolutely individual to each breastfeeding mom.”
The next step in the study is to try a clinical trial of supporting and teaching breastfeeding to new moms in hospital units.
