The Surprising Link Between Breastfeeding and Emotional Wellbeing

Breastfeeding is great for both moms and babies. For babies, it helps keep them healthy by reducing the risk of infections and sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS). For moms, it lowers the risk of bone problems (osteoporosis) and some types of cancer, including breast and ovarian. Because of these and many other health benefits, care teams often recommend breastfeeding for at least the first six months of a baby's life.

Mental Health and Breastfeeding

Did you know that how you feel can affect how well breastfeeding goes? The opposite is also true: breastfeeding success can actually make you feel better mentally. It also helps you bond and feel close to your baby.

Scientific Studies

In 2022, a study found that breastfeeding can help parents feel better mentally. But if you expect breastfeeding to be easy and it turns out to be hard, you might feel worse. Also, if you think your worth as a parent depends on how well you breastfeed, you might feel more anxious.

Research also has found that a high level of psychological stress can make it harder to produce milk. And, if you worry about not having enough milk, you might actually produce less! This especially impacts the first few weeks of a baby's life. Stressful events can make breastfeeding harder and shorter. How this happens is somewhat mysterious, but we have strong reasons to believe hormones like insulin, cortisol and oxytocin play a role.

Self-Efficacy

Self-efficacy means believing you can control your life and handle challenges. It is the foundation for motivation, wellbeing and personal accomplishment. If you have strong self-efficacy, you can deal with stress better and stay healthy. If you have low self-efficacy, stress and anxiety can get worse.

Breastfeeding Self-Efficacy

Believing you can breastfeed well affects your decisions and efforts. If you have strong self-efficacy, you're more likely to try and keep breastfeeding despite any challenges that may arise. Your expectations from past experiences, experiences of family and friends, portrayals in the media, and cultural beliefs and practices can affect your self-efficacy.

Expectations and Realities of Breastfeeding

Ideally, society and culture should help parents feel confident and supported so they can focus on their health and their baby's health. But that's not always true. Sometimes new parents find that what their doctors say doesn't match up with cultural practices, and they might not get support from those around them.

For example, in some places, a baby who is full or fed with formula is seen as a status symbol, while breastmilk might be seen as "dirty" or a sign of being poor.

New parents also may think breastfeeding should be easy because it's “natural” or because it seemed easy for others. Or parents might feel like their family or others are making the decision about how to feed the baby.

Supporting Breastfeeding Success

We know that when parents feel in control and involved in feeding decisions, they experience greater feelings of self-efficacy, satisfaction and confidence.

Here are some tips to help you succeed with breastfeeding:

• Get help from other breastfeeding moms and professionals, like Baby Cafes, support groups, public health nurses and lactation consultants.
• Learn about breastfeeding and storing colostrum before your baby is born.
• Plan for flexible feeding options, like formula, stored colostrum, donor milk and alternative feeding systems to use until breastfeeding is established.
• Know about breastfeeding problems like nipple pain, mastitis and dysphoric milk ejection reflex (DMER). These complications can lead to early discontinuation of breastfeeding.
• Discuss and plan your strategies for breastfeeding success with your partner, family and support people before the birth of your baby.
• Keep in mind some medications, including ones recommended during pregnancy, can reduce milk production, like antihistamines, decongestants, estrogen, testosterone and antipsychotics.

References:

• Nagel, E. M., Howland, M. A., Pando, C., Stang, J., Mason, S. M., Fields, D. A., & Demerath, E. W. (2022). Maternal Psychological Distress and Lactation and Breastfeeding Outcomes: a Narrative Review. Clinical therapeutics, 44(2), 215–227. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.clinthera.2021.11.007
  
• Yuen, M., Hall, O. J., Masters, G. A., Nephew, B. C., Carr, C., Leung, K., Griffen, A., McIntyre, L., Byatt, N., & Moore Simas, T. A. (2022). The Effects of Breastfeeding on Maternal Mental Health: A Systematic Review. Journal of women's health (2002), 31(6), 787–807. https://doi.org/10.1089/jwh.2021.0504
  
• Zechowy, J. (2024). Motherhood Survival Manual. Amazon Digital Services LLC.