High pregnancy-related anxiety and prenatal depressive symptoms as predictors of intention to breastfeed and breastfeeding initiation

Abstract

Background: Perinatal mood disorders affect up to 20% of women in the United States. Little is known about how disorders in maternal mood may affect rates of breastfeeding.

Objective: To determine the impact of prenatal depressive symptoms and high pregnancy-related anxiety on (1) prenatal intention to breastfeed and (2) breastfeeding initiation.

Methods: We prospectively followed 1436 pregnant women enrolled in the cohort study Project Viva. The main outcome measures were (1) mother's second trimester self-report of intention to use all or mostly formula in the first week of life and (2) failure to initiate breastfeeding. We defined prenatal depressive symptoms as a second trimester Edinburgh Postpartum Depression Scale (EPDS) score of > or =13 and high pregnancy-related anxiety as a "very much" response to three or more questions on a first trimester pregnancy anxiety scale.

Results: Of the 1436 participants, 9% (n = 125) had prenatal depressive symptoms indicative of depression, and 10% (n = 141) reported high pregnancy-related anxiety; 11% (n = 159) intended to give mostly or only formula in the first week of life, and 86% (n = 1242) initiated breastfeeding. In multivariate analyses, women with prenatal depressive symptoms (OR 1.92, 95% CI 1.11, 3.33) and high pregnancy-related anxiety (OR 1.99, 95% CI 1.12, 3.54) were roughly two times more likely than women without these mood disorders to plan to formula feed. However, neither prenatal depressive symptoms (OR 1.06, 95% CI 0.61, 1.84) nor high pregnancy-related anxiety (OR 1.28, 95% CI 0.74, 2.20) was associated with failure to initiate breastfeeding.

Conclusions: In a healthcare setting highly supportive of breastfeeding, women with prenatal depressive symptoms and possibly those with high pregnancy-related anxiety were less likely to plan prenatally to breastfeed, although this tendency did not translate into lower breastfeeding initiation rates.

FIG. 1.

Maternal prenatal breastfeeding intention and relationship to initiation of breastfeeding in women with (A) and without (B) prenatal depressive symptoms and high pregnancy-related anxiety. Data from 1436 participants in Project Viva.