This discussion brought to mind something that Kathleen Kendall-Tackett
presented at a seminar I attended last year. She presented info about a
study which showed that babies of depressed breastfeeding mothers had the
same EEG patterns as those of non-depressed moms, and depressed
breastfeeding moms touched, stroked and looked at their babies more than
depressed non-breastfeeding moms. (Jones et al., Biol Psychology2004, 67:
103-124). Kathleen stated that breastfeeding protects babies against the
negative effects of maternal depression, and she pointed out that depressed
moms that are breastfeeding aren't able to completely disengage from the
baby the way she would be able to if bottle feeding. I'm sure that the
hormones released while nursing play a part as well. 

I realize that we are discussing mothers who don't like breastfeeding rather
than mothers who are depressed (although for some mothers the two probably
go together), but perhaps the protective effects of breastfeeding are the same. 

Fleur Bickford BSc., RN, LLL
Ontario, Canada

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