Debunking ‘Give Mom a Break’ Theory When Dealing With the Baby Blues
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nyone who’s been there knows the first few weeks and months with a newborn aren’t easy. Many new mothers struggle with everything from changing diapers to breastfeeding to feeling as if every decision is a life or death situation. Feeling down during these weeks is so commonplace that colloquially it’s called “the baby blues.” Well-meaning family members rush in to help and often take the baby right out of the mother’s arms in order to “give mom a break.” But according to Nancy Jones, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Psychology and Director of the Developmental Psychophysiology Lab at FAU, this is exactly the wrong thing to do. Even though our culture practically demands that fathers, grandmothers, aunts and friends all come to the rescue of a mother who might be experiencing mood swings, the baby blues or even some level of postpartum depression, Jones contends that the best place for the baby to be is in its mother’s arms, both for the baby’s psychological and physical health and for the mother’s well-being. “It is important for both the mother and the infant to continue to breastfeed and spend time experiencing skin-to-skin contact,” said Jones. “The cultural norm of taking the baby away from the mother when she’s down is actually counterproductive.” Jones and colleague Krystal Mize, Ph.D., Visiting Professor in the Charles E. Schmidt College of Science, are conducting research that aims to demonstrate that breastfeeding and touch have a positive influence on the mother’s affective engagement even when the mother is experiencing depression. Additionally, they
believe that neurological and socio-emotional development will be bolstered for infants who breastfeed and receive skin-to-skin parent contact throughout their early development. MOTHER-CHILD BONDING This research, funded in part by a Division of Research Faculty Research Seed Grant and a dissertation award to graduate student Jillian Hardin, examines the links between infant brain activity, levels of the hormones oxytocin and cortisol and socio-emotional development as a function of the mother-infant feeding and interactive touch patterns. Jones expects to find that the mothers’ levels of oxytocin will correlate with their depression status and their infants’ oxytocin levels and that the mothers’ and infants’ oxytocin levels will predict the interactive patterns between the two. The study will shed light on the relationship between oxytocin and cortisol and the roles these play in stress-reduction in early development. Jones hopes that studies of this type will encourage doctors, nurses and friends and family members to recognize the importance of breast-feeding and skin-to-skin care. “We are already seeing changes in society,” said Jones. “There’s a strong push for breastfeeding, and we hope studies like ours will reinforce the mother’s decision to breastfeed. In cases where the mother is experiencing depression, it is even more imperative to have this bonding experience with the baby.”
Team members explore the effect of breastfeeding on infants' and mothers' emotions.
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