Association of Perinatal Depressive Symptoms with Breastfeeding

作者：Lijing Xie, J. Li · 发表于：ALPHA PSYCHIATRY · 年份：2024 · DOI：10.5152/alphapsychiatry.2024.231308 · 被引用次数：2 · 研究领域：Breastfeeding Practices and Influences、Maternal Mental Health During Pregnancy and Postpartum、Infant Health and Development

Objective: Perinatal depression (PND) refers to depressive symptoms that occur in women during pregnancy and/or postpartum and is a common perinatal mental health problem. It is unclear whether early breastfeeding behavior is associated with PND symptoms in China. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the association between PND symptoms and breastfeeding patterns for infants based on a large cohort. Methods: A prospective study was conducted in a community cohort from March 2021 to December 2022. In this study, maternal depressive symptoms were assessed using the Edinburgh postnatal depression scale (EPDS). The assessments were carried out 1 week before and 1 month after delivery. The socio-demographic information of the mothers, their intention to breastfeed, and their feeding status were investigated one-on-one by the hospital's trained medical staff through self-designed questionnaires. The maternity information and physical examination results were obtained through the healthcare records of the patients. Results: < 0.05). Conclusion: There was an association between perinatal depressive symptoms and exclusive breastfeeding. Addressing perinatal depressive symptoms may extend the duration of exclusive breastfeeding.