Depression and the Breastfeeding Mother

Health care providers and public health officials are telling mothers not to sleep with their babies. How is this impacting mothers' behavior? This presentation will show new data from the Survey of Mothers' Sleep and Fatigue. Where do babies start and finish the night, what are mothers are telling their friends, family and health care providers, and how do they feel about their sleep arrangements?

Does nighttime breastfeeding elevate the risk of postpartum depression? We will examine the relationship between feeding method, where babies sleep and maternal fatigue. Preliminary analyses reveal that breastfeeding mothers report less fatigue than their formula-feeding or mixed-feeding counterparts.

Recent research has revealed that depression is associated with systemic inflammation, specifically, the increase in proinflammatory cytokines. Common experiences of new motherhood, sleep deprivation, postpartum pain, and psychological trauma, also cause inflammation levels to rise. This session will describe the inflammatory response and also show why breastfeeding and anti-inflammatory treatments protect maternal mental health.

The negative effects of postpartum depression, on both mother and baby, are too serious to ignore. There are a number of treatments for depression, including a wide range of non-pharmacologic treatments. This session summarizes research findings on various therapies and also describes the implications of each for breastfeeding.

Featured Speakers:  Kathleen Kendall-Tackett, PhD, IBCLC

Event Date: April 16, 2010

Event times: 9am - 4pm

This event will be held at Torrance Memorial Medical Center, Health Conference Center, 3330 Lomita Boulevard, Torrance, CA 90505

To learn more about this event click on the registration brochure below or go to Upcoming Seminars:  http://www.breastfeedingtaskforla.org/events/upcoming.htm.

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