My name is Rachel Souba and I am a Junior Nursing Student at the University of North Dakota. I subscribed to this listserv because of my interest in the psychological and social issues involved in breastfeeding. As many of my professors are IBCLC's and we focus a greatdeal on the importance of breastfeeding, they have sparked my interest in reasons for early cessation of breastfeeding. 
 
Postpartum depression has been estimated to affect at least 13 percent of women and can have considerable consequences for both the mother and infant (Henderson, Evans, Straton, Priest & Hagan, 2003). Several studies have investigated the correlation between early cessation of breastfeeding and maternal depression, but the consensus is unclear as it is often debated how to define 'depression'. The study preformed by Shakespeare, Blake, and Garcia (2004) revealed that participants found breastfeeding reality to be overwhelmingly different from their expectations. When the women were struggling to breastfeed they reported feelings of failing as mothers and lack of control (Shakespeare, Blake & Garcia, 2004). However when interviewed, whether or not they had continued to breastfeed, the women attributed their distress and/or depression to their difficult breastfeeding experiences (Shakespeare,2004). Both of these studies found a positive correlation between early cessation of b
reastfeeding and maternal depression. A study by Falceto, Giugliani, and Fernandes (2004) emphasized the importance of the mental health status of the mother as breastfeeding is established and its influence on the continuation or cessation of breastfeeding.
 
Clearly more research is needed in this area as many studies fail to comprehensively explain these correlations. I am interested in your experience with maternal depression and early cessation of breastfeeding. Women who struggled with breastfeeding indicated these experiences as causes of depression, yet studies focus more on causation of early cessation being the depression itself. I am curious as to your experience and insight related to this subject.
  Thank you, 
         Rachel Souba, SN 
 
Falceto, O.G., Giugliani, E. R. J., Fernandes, D. L. C., (2004)
Influence of Parental Mental Health on Early Termination of
Breast-Feeding: a Case- Control Study. The Journal of the American 
Board of Family Practice 17, pp. 173-183.
 
Henderson, J. J., Evans, S. F., Straton, J.A.Y., Priest, S. R., Hagan, R.(2003).      
Impact of Postnatal Depression on Breastfeeding Duration. Birth 30, pp 175-181.
 
Shakespeare, J., Blake, F., Garcia, J., (2004) Breast-feeding
difficulties experienced by women taking part in a qualitative 
interview study of postnatal depression. Midwifery 20, pp.251-260.

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