eMedicineLive

For a woman, the weeks following the child birth can be full of joy and excitement. However, for some women, the stresses of newly acquired motherhood status, coupled with the physiological changes that come about in their bodies, can cause wide mood swings and lead to conflicting emotions. This in turn can lead to depression.  A woman suffering from post partum depression may feel sad, miserable and irritable. Some researches have claimed that maternal postnatal depression can have an adverse effect on the growth of the child and can even lead to obesity.

Maternal postnatal depression is becoming increasingly common and affects around 10-15% of women. This problem is usually more common in low-income nations having less favorable environments. Many experts opine that the causes of maternal postnatal mood disorders are mainly associated with hormonal changes. However, there are certain risk factors that too can lead to this depression. These risk factors include low income, lack of social support, marital conflict, low education, unemployment, stressful life events, caesarean section and previous history of depression.

Studies have reported that there exist different types of parenting difficulties in the affected parents and that their offspring can experience long-term behavioral, cognitive or emotional problems. Women suffering from post natal depression are more likely to live a relatively lesser healthy lifestyle and engage in lesser amount of sleep practices and healthy feeding with their offspring. In addition, such women often have irregular dietary habits leading to nutritional deficiency and they often stop breastfeeding earlier in comparison to mothers who don’t suffer from post partum depression.

In a study titled ‘Childhood overweight and maternal depressive symptoms,’ Surkan PJ, Kawachi I and Peterson KE observed that in a Brazilian low-income cohort, children born to mothers suffering from post partum depression were more prone to rapid weight gain. They contemplated that the reason behind this could be the inappropriate or irregular feeding behavior, which can lead to either obesity or stunted growth.

But in an European birth cohort, maternal post partum depression certainly doesn’t have any effect on the offspring’s BMI (Body Mass Index) or any other anthropometric indices in the first couple of years of life. Although many studies have determined the negative effects of post natal depression on the early growth of the infants in low-income countries, results obtained from high-income countries, such as UK and the US are inconsistent and do not support this claim. The most comprehensive study on this subject, which involved more than 12,000 children, showed no relation between the post natal depression and irregular growth over/ during the first 9 months of life.

Wright CM, Parkinson KN and Drewett RF conducted a study titled ‘The influence of maternal socioeconomic and emotional factors on infant weight gain and weight faltering (failure to thrive),’ in which they stated that the potential effects of depressive symptoms may only be transitional. They had suggested that these effects may be noticed at around the 4 months of life but not exist after 12 months of life. To ensure that their findings are accurate, they analyzed anthropometric data at regular intervals (6, 12 and 24 months of age). However, they did support the claim that maternal depression did have certain effects on child weight and that the offspring of depressed mother are relatively lighter at the time of birth.

Current research emphasizes on the fact that many events in early life, including poor growth, prenatal smoking exposure and duration of breastfeeding are associated with the increased risk of obesity in the offspring. However, maternal post partum depression may not carry such a risk, especially among the European population.

Reference
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2850333/

Disclaimer: This article is written by a non-medical professional.