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Problems breastfeeding can leave new moms feeling dejected and overwhelmed in their first days of motherhood. Sometimes, these blue feelings become full blown post-partum depression.
A new study finds that women who have trouble with breastfeeding are more likely to suffer from post-partum depression. While they’ve found a definite link between the two issues, they don’t know which way the causal relationship flows.
Are women becoming depressed because they’re struggling with breastfeeding, or are they having trouble nursing because they’re depressed?
More research is needed to answer that question, but just knowing there’s a link gives healthcare providers valuable information to work with.
Did pre-baby blues darken your pregnancy?
For some women, a case of the baby blues can set in even before they give birth. Anxiety and depression during pregnancy aren’t just unpleasant: they can be dangerous to a mom-to-be and her unborn baby. Mood problems can contribute to premature birth, low birth weight, weight loss for the mom and substance abuse issues.
It’s not just hormones or brain chemistry that get us down during pregnancy. It’s also the support, or lack of support, we get from our partners.
A new study finds that women with strong relationships are better able to weather ordinary stressors and less likely to report feeling depressed or anxious during pregnancy.
What leads a mom to murder her babies
The news that a Pennsylvania nurse’s aid Michele Kalina has been charged with the poisoning and suffocating of at least four of her own infants brings up big psychological questions.
As Sierra reported earlier today, Kalina was arraigned on Monday. Her husband and daughter notified police after they found the remains of five newborn babies hidden in her closet. Forensic evidence says she is the mother, and the babies are thought to have been conceived through an extramarital affair — her boyfriend and husband both apparently unaware of the pregnancies.
What would lead a person to commit such a heinous crime? It’s unfortunately not the most rare phenomenon, and it brings up comparisons between this and past cases of infanticide.
The psychology at play undoubtedly varies from case to case. For example, remember Andrea Yates, the mother who drowned five of her children in the bathtub in 2001. By all psychiatric accounts, Yates suffered from post partum psychosis (about 15 percent of moms suffer from post partum depression, and a small percentage of these go on to have psychotic symptoms).
Yates had hallucinations and delusions that Satan was speaking to her. In a complete disconnect from reality, she believed her act of violence was saving her children.
The sketchy details of Kalina’s case so far paint a different picture. Continue reading »
Fish oil capsules. Good for pregnancy?
The Journal of the American Medical Association recently published a study by the Women’s and Children’s Hospital in North Adelaide, Australia indicating that “women taking fish oil capsules during pregnancy are not more likely to stave off postpartum depression nor boost the mental development of their babies,” Reuters reports.
Fish oil, on the other hand, does reduce the chances of giving birth too early, but may result in a pregnancy going past its due date. (Which could lead to induction, which may wind up in C-section.) Does that mean DHA isn’t the miracle fatty acid we thought it was?
Nutritionists and doctors have heralded the importance of getting DHA while pregnant. Dr. Mary Harris, professor of Food Science and Human Nutrition at Colorado State University, says, “In research that studied maternal nutrition and how it affected babies, moms who ate the least amount of fish during pregnancy had babies with the lowest brain and eye test scores,” adding, “moms who eat three servings of fish each week have the brainiest babies; they speak earlier and have better social skills.”
But according to this new study, that’s just not true. Continue reading »
Officials are still searching for Portland boy Kyron Horman, who has been missing for a month. While his parents haven’t given up hope that he’s alive, they’re now wondering whether his stepmother, Terri Horman, is hiding something.
Kyron’s parents, who are divorced, say that Terri Horman changed after the birth of her baby, Kiara, almost 19 months ago. Perhaps post-partum depression brought on the unthinkable, as in the case of Andrea Yates nearly a decade ago. Continue reading »
Post-partum depression isn’t just for moms.
New research shows that surprisingly, men can get post-partum depression and it’s not only psychological.
About 10 percent of dads experience depression before or after their child is born — or what’s called ”parental postnatal depression,” according to the first study done on this phenomenon, published in Journal of the American Medical Association.
The study found that depression was highest in the three to six months following the baby’s birth. The depression rate for pregnant and new moms in the study was about 24 percent
Apparently, after becoming dads, men’s estrogen levels can increase, while their testosterone levels dip. Some biologists suggest this is nature’s way of making sure men stick around to help raise the baby. But those hormonal changes can also cause the baby blues. Add in lack of sleep, increased responsibility, and lack of social support and it’s a potent combo. Continue reading »
There’s a shocking cure for the baby blues: sleep deprivation.
The New York Times reports that depressed new mothers who stay up all night will find their depression lifted by morning. They say:
Sleep deprivation used as a treatment for depression is efficacious and robust: it works quickly, is relatively easy to administer, inexpensive, relatively safe and it also alleviates other types of clinical depression.
Most new parents are painfully familiar with sleep deprivation, and I’ve never heard anyone say it made life with a new baby better. What’s up with this research? Continue reading »
Joslyn Gray 
Amber Doty 
Julianna Miner 
Monica Bielanko 
Sierra Black 
Meredith Carroll 
Carolyn Castiglia 
Sunny Chanel 
Madeline Holler 
Wendy Michaels 
Rebecca Odes 
Danielle Smith 
Danielle Sullivan 
Katherine Stone 
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