Breastfeeding Forum

Posted: 27 August 2007 at 9:55am | IP Logged

I was reading a report earlier on this week and it was saying that children that have been breastfed are less likely to suffer from mental health issues such as depression.

So my question is were you breastfed?  If so have you suffered from depresion?  Did you breastfeed your children and if so have you noticed any signs of depression in them.

I wasn't breastfed myself and have suffered episodes of depression in my life including pnd.  Out of my 3 children Ollie is a bit small to notice whether he will suffer but Hayley wasn't breastfed and Fran was.  Hayley suffers from episodes of depression and unhappiness but Fran is very different person and doesn't show any signs of depression and seems to sort her problems out a lot quicker.

Posted: 27 August 2007 at 10:30am | IP Logged

How very interesting.

I dont think I was breastfed as I was looked after by my Gran from 7 months old. I do suffer from depressive episodes though.

I haven't breastfed any of my kids and I can't dsay that I have noticed deprssion signs in the oldest one yet. Just the usual tennage strops.

Posted: 27 August 2007 at 1:09pm | IP Logged

I was bottlefed and have suffered depression in my life.  My sister was breastfed and also suffers from depression so it goes against the case.  We have depression on the maternal side of the family.  I still think that depression is more hereditary rather than if someone was breastfed as a baby.

Posted: 27 August 2007 at 5:20pm | IP Logged

i was bf but not for long and have suffered from deppression-a few years ago.

i put that down to my situation at the time though,had i been leading a better lilfe at the time im certain i would not have been depressed. my mum has suffered with severe depression for a number of years now,i dont think that has effected me in any way either.

xxxx

Posted: 27 August 2007 at 6:02pm | IP Logged

I wasnt breastfed and have suffered from depression on and off since i was 16.  My eldest sister was bf and has never had depression of any form.

Posted: 29 August 2007 at 8:51pm | IP Logged

Like Hazel said, our mum bf'd us both, and H has suffered from depression while I haven't.

I bf'ed all my three for varying times. Ethan I fed for the longest, and he is the one who worries me the most, and whom I can see one day becoming depressed. He just doesn't seem to be able to cope with things very well and has a very low self esteem. Noah I fed for the least amount of time, yet he takes everything is his stride and, though he still gets upset about things, you can reason with him, and he will get over things quite quickly.

Joe? Well, I fed him for about 9 months (I think) and although he's still only 3, I get the feeling he's going to hit the world good and hard and not keep still long enough to get down about anything...

You can make any point with statistics. It's all just coincidence and clever wording, it doesn't necessarily mean that the points are linked. Personally I think that this sort of thing is much more down to genetic backgound, inherant personality, combined with the circumstances in which you find yourself.