"Feeding with pain depresses, and if the mother is depressed it is very likely that you have difficulties with the breastfeeding," she recounted recently to the Ep. Ibone Olza, the psychiatrist perinatal. Explains that breastfeeding, like birth, is an event neurohormonal; that is to say, the feeding is directed by neurohormones produced in the brain of the mother: the oxytocin and prolactin that, in addition to milk, they "produce changes in the psyche and in the conduct of breast to facilitate breastfeeding and foster parenting ".
The experts of the European Institute of Perinatal Mental Health insist that there is a bidirectional relationship between breastfeeding and the health of mothers caused by neurohormones that alter the psyche of the mother and that facilitate or hinder the breastfeeding.
In the case of nursing women who suffer from depression, this mental illness causes the mother's ability to interpret reality in a negative way and suffer intrusive thoughts , such as thinking constantly that your milk is not going to be enough, obsessing over thinking that the baby is not gaining weight properly or that it is not a good mother.
"The depression is like wearing glasses that make everything look black. The depletion tends to be huge, and fatigue one of the first symptoms of that post-partum depression. In addition, with the disease lose the ability to enjoy the breastfeeding so that it becomes a huge effort and exhausting", has detailed Olza.
on the other hand, when the breastfeeding is going well, it can help to "improve the relationship with the own body and self-esteem", something that according to the director of the Institute observed "especially in women who have a history of disorders of feeding behavior and expressing that thanks to breastfeeding have been able to reconcile themselves with their bodies." In the event that you have suffered a traumatic birth, adds Olza, breastfeeding is also for many mothers "deeply healing and repair some of the trauma".
the weight of guiltThe psychiatrist has explained that many of the breastfeeding difficulties come particular of those births traumatic , the early separation of the baby, the abuse of antibiotics, and factors of a social nature such as loneliness or perfectionism.
"In general, during pregnancy, few women imagine how difficult it can be the start of lactation , almost no one speaks about it, but all the attention is focused on the delivery and it idealizes the post-partum period. So when the start is painful, when the baby fails to catch or not to cry, many women feel embarrassed", has expressed to the psychiatrist.
"The feeling of guilt is usually terrible, many mothers expressed that they thought breastfeeding would be a idyllic experience, and in the face of difficulties think that they are the ones who must be doing something wrong... And now we have the vicious circle of guilt and depression in place" has nuanced Olza.
For the psychiatrist, perinatal, however, when a mother fails to breastfeed as I wanted "what's wrong is the whole system". Therefore considered essential professionals who attend to breastfeeding mothers to have knowledge on psychology, perinatal, and be able to detect or derive the cases where there is a problem.
"Before any difficulty of feeding to assess the mood mother: ask the mother how it is, allow him to express his ambivalence, offer empathic listening always, to rule out that you have anxiety or depression, and see if you need emotional support or social. Ideally, you would also ask the parents and see how they are advancing in the post-partum level of partner," he added.
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Date Of Update: 14 September 2019, 01:01
