Is postnatal depression and anxiety of mothers effective on weight gain of the infants

Abstract

This study aims to assess the relationship between depression symptoms, anxiety levels of postpartum mothers and weight gain of their babies. A questionnaire to interrogate pregnancy, labor and infant's characteristics, as well as, Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS), State- Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI) was conducted to 104 mothers having 6-8 months old babies, which admitted to healthy child outpatient clinic of our hospital. Infants were followed-up with regard to weight gain. In 33.7% of mothers EPDS scores were calculated above 13. All mothers with premature birth had EPDS scores above 13. The STAI-1 and STAI-2 scores were high in 41.3% and 48.1% of mothers, respectively. All mothers having in vitro fertilization had high STAI-2 scores. Weight gain of infants of mothers having high STAI-2 scores were significantly low (p<.05). Postnatal depression was found frequent among mothers with low socio-economical level, and also, mothers having in vitro fertilization and premature birth are subject to evaluation for such measures. Anxiety level of mothers in postnatal episode is a contributing factor on breastfeeding and weight gain of their infants. It was concluded that mothers should not only be evaluated for depression level, but for anxiety level as well. This study is the first report investigating the relationship between anxiety levels of postpartum mothers and weight gain of their babies.