The relationship between maternal psychological status, continued breastfeeding and child development and emotional status is the focus of this study. The study examined 120 mother-infant pairs (18-24 months postdelivery): 60 who had continued to breastfeed into the second year and 60 who had discontinued breastfeeding over the first year post delivery. The anxiety and depression scores were measured for mothers, while development and behavior patterns were assessed for their children. The study revealed that anxiety scores were significantly higher among mothers who discontinued to breast feed over the first year post delivery. While depression scores were higher among mothers who continued breastfeeding into the second year. The developmental and behavior patterns of the children who were still breastfeeding into the second year of life were superior to those who had discontinued breastfeeding during the first year. High maternal anxiety and depression scores were associated with poor developmental and behavior outcome of their children. However high maternal depression scores among the breast fed infant had insignificant effects on their neurological and emotional development It is concluded that continued breastfeeding has psychological benefits for both mothers and their infants and can be protective for infants whose mothers suffer from depression. Mothers should be encouraged to continue to breast feed into the second year in order to assure optimal psychological development of their infants and to safeguard their own mental health status. Periodic counseling of breastfeeding mothers to support them, detect and decrease the ill-effects of their psychological status on their breastfeeding status and breastfed infants is highly recommended in order to support continued breastfeeding into the second year of life. |
