Can breastfeeding be linked to depressive episodes?

[Cliffdiver]

I've been musing about this for a while.

DD2 (10 months) breastfeeds very erratically. Some days she will want a milk snack hourly and other days she will have a morning feed, maybe a mid afternoon feed and then a her early evening cluster feed.

I also do a night shift once a week and don't feed her until I get home at 8.30am.

I notice that if (for example) she feeds a lot on a Monday and then does not have a lot on Tuesday then by Tuesday afternoon I will feel very down in myself and quite depressed. I also feel very very emotional when I am driving home from work after my shift and have rock hard breasts.

I was wondering if anyone else experiences these depressive episodes? Or if anyone knows what causes them? I am wondering whether it has something to do with the drop in oxytocin?

I do with DD2 and I did with DD1. Yesterday she was really sleepy of not many feeds and I was a teary mess. But that also happens when she feeds loads too. 'Ormones I guess

Tiredness, hormones and hunger/blood sugar can really affect mental health if you already have a condition.
I wish the impact of breastfeeding on these and thus my own anxiety had been spelled out to me before I started. I would definitely still breast feed but would have avoided a few big anxiety flare ups by anticipating them (eg being vigilant about food/water, knowing I had to rest more than other mums if I bfed etc).
I can understand they use "breastfeeding prevents pnd" to up sell it but actually for some of us, it would help to have the message "if you breastfeed make sure you take care of yourself because it can contribute to existing issues if you don't look after yourself. Because I'm sure without support at the time I might have quit when it got tough, and it got tough because I assumed it was all oxytocin and happiness from what I'd been told beforehand.

Actually, if your neurological or psychological make up requires good blood sugar and rest, you need to be sensible when you are breastfeeding I found.

Thank you for your replies, it's interesting to hear your experiences and nice to know I am not the only one feeling like this.

In my experience the two at definitely linked. I have PMDD too so it's obviously hormones at work.

When DTs were in NICU I was expressing every three hours round the clock, and I would have the most spectular mood swings. Expressed, felt alright, then got increasingly agitated and anxious by the two hour mark, then by the time it came to express at three hours I would be a sobbing shaking mess. Then I'd express and feel alright again. The mood swings were part of the reason I stopped expressing.