Awful PND subsided after I stopped bfding DS - what do I do this time??

[Jackaroo]

I noticed another thread on here about PND and breastfeeding... I fed my son for 13 months, and within a couple of weeks of weaning him off, the worst of my PND suddenly evaporated (I was on ADs the whole time,and found bfding easy....)...

I saw my midwife a couple of weeks later by chance and mentioned this - she said "yes, but if we'd told you that, you wouldn't have breastfed, would you?"

Now, despite the obvious answer, not to breastfeed this time, I cannot imagine ff my next baby, at all, and even more, feel that it would be unfair given that I "gave" so much to DS1.

I was really really sick with PND, and so so much better when I stopped the feeding.

Any thoughts?

Could it be an anthropoloogical thing?

Ie, depression makes you slow down, refuse contact with other people, not want to go out. Woudln't this all keep you close to your LO in caveman times?

Just a thought...not saying it is the reason...BUT I have suffered from depression a lot and have read stuff about it. One of the things I rememebr was one of the reasons for depression evolving was to focus you on what you needed to deal with by lying low, and not using your energies elsewhere (ie socially)

Jackaroo, your midwife is talking rubbish. There is really no evidence that bf is more likely to cause PND - but that's not to say individual women may not react individually to different hormonal 'situations'. You can ask her where she has got her information from, if you like - she will not be able to reference any decent scientific literature about it, I can assure you.

I don't agree with fizzbuzz's hypothesis, sorry - interesting as it is Serious PND is not good for babies - it really isn't. It's important to treat it, not just for the mother's well-being, but for the baby's. Mothers with PND may have to work very hard to relate emotionally to their babies, and this is where (in theory at least) bf helps - it gives that close, emotional, mother-to-baby contact that may be missing.

Jackaroo, maybe you'd be justified in speaking to a clinical psychologist or a psychiatrist with an interest in PND. Maybe prophylactic ADs, or lifestyle changes, or a different sort of birth, or counselling in pregnancy....whatever.... could be appropriate for you. It would be sad to ff, and then find you still had PND, and then you would (as you say) feel you'd been unfair to baby no. 2.