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Early Adversity, Symptoms of Depression and Breastfeeding

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 March 2020

W. Jonas ,
A. Fleming ,
M. Steiner ,
M.J. Meaney ,
L. Atkinson ,
V. Mileva ,
M. Sokolowski  and
J. Kennedy
W. Jonas
Affiliation:
Karolinska Institute, Department of Women's and Children's Health, Stockholm, Sweden
A. Fleming
Affiliation:
University of Toronto, Department of Psychology, Toronto, Canada
M. Steiner
Affiliation:
McMaster University, Departments of Psychiatry & Behavioural Neurosciences and Obstetrics & Gynecology, Hamilton-ON-CA, Canada
M.J. Meaney
Affiliation:
McGill University, Departments of Psychiatry and Neurology and Neurosurgery, Montreal, Canada
L. Atkinson
Affiliation:
Ryerson University, Department of Psychology, Toronto, Canada
V. Mileva
Affiliation:
University of Toronto, Department of Psychology, Toronto, Canada
M. Sokolowski
Affiliation:
University of Toronto, Department of biological Genetics, Toronto, Canada
J. Kennedy
Affiliation:
Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, Psychiatric Neurogenetics Section, Toronto, Canada

Abstract

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Backround

There is considerable variation in the prevalence of breastfeeding, which allows for investigation of factors that influence the initiation and duration of breastfeeding and its association with well being of the mother infant dyad.

Aims

To better understand factors that influence (1) maternal breastfeeding status and (2) the “effects” of breastfeeding on mothers and infants.

Methods

Participants (n = 170) derive from a longitudinal Canadian study “Maternal Adversity, Vulnerability and Neurodevelopment (MAVAN)”, a project designed to understand the pre- and postnatal influences on maternal health and child social-emotional development. Mothers provided data on breastfeeding status, early life adversity, oxytocin gene and oxytocin gene receptor polymorphisms, depression/anxiety, infant temperament and maternal sensitivity.

Results

Early life adversity associated with a shorter breastfeeding duration and higher maternal depression levels. The relation between mothers’ early adversity and the duration of breastfeeding was mediated by mothers’ depression level, but only in women carrying one variant of the oxytocin rs2740210 gene marker (CC genotype). Mothers who breastfeed at 3 months acted more sensitively towards their infants when they were 6 months old and they in turn had infants who at 18 months showed reduced negative affectivity.

Conclusion

Women who have been exposed to early adversity are “living with the past” and they are, to certain extent, protected or more vulnerable to depression, depending on their genotype. Breastfeeding associated with higher maternal sensitivity, which associated with decreased negative emotionality in the infant at 18 months. Our results help to clarify associations between early life experiences, breastfeeding, and the mother-infant relationship.

Disclosure of interest

The authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.

Type
Symposium: Intergenerational transmission of parenting: Epigenetic, genetic, and psychological mechanisms
Information
European Psychiatry , Volume 41 , Issue S1: Abstract of the 25th European Congress of Psychiatry , April 2017 , pp. S30
Copyright
Copyright © European Psychiatric Association 2017
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