Postpartum Depression and Its Impact on Mother-Child Relationship

Postpartum depression is more common than most people realize, affecting approximately one in seven women after giving birth. It's important to understand how it can affect both mother and child, particularly concerning their relationship with each other. One of the strongest predictors of postnatal mental health problems, including maternal anxiety and depression, is having complications during pregnancy, such as preterm labor. Premature babies born before thirty weeks gestational age tend to have higher incidences of developmental delays later in life. These children may be slower to crawl, walk, feed themselves, sit up, talk, hold things steady, pull toys toward them, or see well. In addition, there might also be concerns regarding the child's cognitive abilities, emotional regulation, behavior, and self-regulation skills. Mothers suffering from depression could become emotionally unavailable, which leads to a lack of bonding between mother and child. This interaction deficit develops further if the depression goes untreated, leading to poor communication, stress, lack of stimulation, and understimulation of the child's brain. As a result, these infants grow into preschoolers with significant lags across many areas of learning. The severity of the symptoms depends upon the duration of the illness—the longer it lasts, the worse its effects will likely be. Moreover, some studies show that when mothers suffer from severe depressive episodes around the time they give birth, this increases the risk of their babies developing behavioral issues by the age of nine years old. On average, though, if left untreated, nearly half of all newborns exposed to maternal depression go on to experience negative outcomes like social withdrawal, sleeping difficulties, feeding disorders, colic, crying spells, and disrupted sleep patterns. Therefore, addressing postpartum depression early is crucial for the health of both the mother and her infant.