Brief report
Depressed mothers and infants are more relaxed during breastfeeding versus bottlefeeding interactions: Brief report

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Abstract

Depressed and non-depressed mothers and their 3-month-old infants were videotaped during breastfeeding and bottlefeeding interactions. The videotapes were subsequently coded for a number of feeding interaction behaviors as well as being rated on the Interaction Rating Scales. No differences were noted between the depressed and non-depressed mothers. Several breastfeeding versus bottlefeeding group effects were observed. The breastfeeding mothers showed less burping and less intrusive behavior during the nipple-in periods as well as during the nipple-out periods. In addition, the breastfeeding mothers and their infants received better ratings on the Interaction Rating Scales. These data suggest that the depressed mothers and their infants not unlike the non-depressed mothers and their infants were benefited by breastfeeding.

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Participants

The mothers were recruited for this study from the newborn nursery. Following informed consent, the mothers were administered the Structured Clinical Inventory for DSM-IV Diagnoses and the CES-D. The first 28 non-depressed mothers (14 breastfeeding and 14 bottlefeeding mothers) and the first 28 depressed mothers (14 breastfeeding and 14 bottlefeeding mothers) were recruited for this study.

The mothers averaged 26.6 years, their parity averaged 1.1, they were low-to-middle socioeconomic status (M =

Measures

Structured Clinical Inventory for DSM-IV Diagnoses (SCID). This face-to-face interview was used to determine whether the mothers met diagnostic criteria for major DSM-IV Axis I disorders. For the current study, the Affective Disorder Module was used to assess major depression disorder and dysthymia (Segal, Kabacoff, Hersen, Van-Hasselt, & Ryan, 1995).

Center for Epidemiological Studies-Depression Scale (CES-D; Radloff, 1991). This 20-item scale was included to assess symptoms of maternal

Results

As can be seen in Table 1, ANOVAs revealed main effects for the breastfeeding/bottlefeeding group, suggesting that the breastfeeding versus the bottlefeeding group showed: (1) less burping; (2) less intrusive stimulation during the nipple-in periods; (3) less stimulation during the nipple-out periods; and (4) more stroking. Further, the breastfeeding groups had better Interaction Rating Scale Scores for both the mothers and the infants.

Discussion

These data suggest that both depressed and non-depressed mother–infant dyads benefit from breastfeeding. Breastfeeding mothers spent more time stroking their infants, which would be considered positive because stroking appears to help infants grow and develop (Field, Diego, & Hernandez-Reif, 2010). In addition, mothers’ stroking enhances mother's sensitivity to their infants’ cues for the optimal level of stimulation. In turn, greater sensitivity to the infants’ behavior cues might explain the

Acknowledgements

We would like to thank the mothers and infants who participated in this study and the research associates who assisted us. This research was supported by a Merit Award (MH46586), Senior Research Scientist Awards (MH00331 and AT001585) and a March of Dimes Grant (# 12-FYO3-48) to Tiffany Field and funding from Johnson and Johnson Pediatric Institute to the Touch Research Institutes.

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