Previous maternal depression can affect the mother-baby bond

Mothers who experience depression during pregnancy or who have a history of depression are more likely to have reduced quality of interaction with their babies up to one year after birth. — AFP

Research led by King’s College London in the United Kingdom has found that women with depression during pregnancy, or with a history of depression, had a reduced quality of mother-infant interaction at both eight weeks and 12 months after their babies were born.

The researchers looked at the quality of mother-infant interactions at those two time periods after birth in three groups of 131 women: