Recent literature reviews suggest that breastfeeding is less common among depressed mothers, even though their infants benefit from breastfeeding.25 and 26 Studies from different socio-cultural contexts show almost unequivocally that depressed mothers tend to breastfeed OSI-906 cell line less

or for less time than non-depressed mothers. However, the association between breastfeeding and postpartum depression remains equivocal.25 and 27 When depressed during pregnancy, women are less likely to initiate28 and 29 or to maintain breastfeeding,30, 31 and 32 compared with those with no depressive symptoms. In a recent study on the association between prenatal psychosocial risk factors and breastfeeding intention of Hispanic women, researchers found that women who scored higher in depression at the middle of gestation (about 25.7 weeks) and women who showed persistent depressive symptoms during pregnancy presented a lower intention to breastfeed their babies.33 Other studies have shown that 1/5 of pregnant women are depressed at the third trimester of pregnancy,34 and 35 and that half of these depressed pregnant women will not initiate or breastfeed for three months or more.30 Depression scores at the third trimester were the best predictors of the length of exclusive breastfeeding,

and when considering all the mothers not breastfeeding at three-month postpartum, 37% could be easily detected because of depression during pregnancy.30 Results also EGFR inhibitors cancer showed a significant decrease in depression scores from childbirth to three months

postpartum in women who maintained exclusive breastfeeding for three or more months.30 Exclusive breastfeeding appears to be significantly lower among depressed mothers.36, 37, 38 and 39 Mothers who do not initiate or maintain breastfeeding are more at-risk for depression during the postpartum BCKDHA period.30, 40, 41, 42 and 43 Moreover, when mothers are depressed in the postpartum period, they tend to not initiate28 and 29 or maintain breastfeeding.27, 36, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49 and 50 Some studies have shown that postpartum depression emerges in the sequence of and may result from breastfeeding interruption,40, 41, 42 and 43 suggesting that early cessation of breastfeeding may be involved in the cause of postpartum depression. For example, an association between negative early breastfeeding experiences and depressive symptoms at two months postpartum was found.51 Another study that aimed to assess the association between the infant feeding method and depressive symptoms showed that breastfeeding initiation among multiparous mothers was associated with significantly decreased odds of postpartum depression.43 Other studies suggest that postpartum depression may be involved in the cause of early breastfeeding cessation, and that depressive symptoms have been observed to precede the cessation of breastfeeding.