Breastfeeding may be protective against depression, anxiety in mums

Women who have ever breastfed appear to have reduced long-term risk of depression and anxiety, as suggested in a study.

Researchers conducted a 10-year prospective study involving parous women from the ROLO Longitudinal Cohort in Dublin, Ireland. A total of 168 participants (mean age at study end 42.4 years, 95.2 percent White Irish) with available lifetime breastfeeding behaviour and health history data at 10 years were included in the analysis.

All participants were pregnant with their second child at recruitment, and 56.5 percent had no further children at 10 years, with parity ranging from 2 to 5. Nearly all participants (98.7 percent) remained premenopausal at 10 years.

Most participants (72.6 percent) reported ever breastfeeding, with a median lifetime exclusive breastfeeding duration of 5.5 weeks. More than a third of the participants (37.5 percent) breastfed for ≥12 months over their lifetime. A total of 13.1 percent reported depression or anxiety at 10 years, and 20.8 percent reported depression or anxiety over the whole study period.

Ever breastfeeding was associated 66-percent reduced odds of depression and anxiety at 10 years (odds ratio [OR], 0.34, 95 percent confidence interval [CI], 0.12–0.94; p=0.04). Factors associated with lower odds of depression and anxiety over the whole study period included ever breastfeeding (OR 0.4, p=0.03), longer exclusive breastfeeding (OR 0.98 per week, p=0.03), and lifetime breastfeeding ≥12 months (OR 0.38, p=0.04).

The findings provide evidence that breastfeeding is beneficial for mothers.