> i Deborah,
>
> For what it's worth, while nursing my baby, I would feel a brief (2
> seconds) feeling of sadness/depression/anxiety right after he would latch
> on and then, about 90 seconds later, my milk would let down.  It never
> bothered me or worried me, I figured it was just hormonal.  This
> phenomenon faded by the time he was six months old.
>
> I have heard other women talk of similar feelings of anxiety or
> depression while nursing.
>
> Kathleen Salisbury  ([log in to unmask])
> LLL of Gig Harbor and LLL of Port Orchard (WA, USA)
>


I was fascinated to read this post. I have never heard anyone describe
this phenomenon before. I too experienced a very brief feeling of
melancholy when my first breastfed baby would stimulate letdown. I tried
to describe it to several people and the closest thing I could  compare
to the feeling is intense homesickness. It was never a real problem for
me and it faded after a few months. I looked for references to this
symptom in the medical literature and never found anything.

Anecdotally, several women I know who experienced severe, clinically
diagnosed PPD have told me that they felt worse when breastfeeding.

Katie Allison Granju
Knoxville, TN