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Further, the benefits of breastfeeding are actively promoted by public health organizations not merely as the healthiest nutritional choice, but also to “… promote the emotional relationship, or bonding, between mother and infant.” Īrguably, the notion that a link exists between maternal bonding and breastfeeding originates in cultural norms. Consistently, one of the most common reasons given by women for wanting to breastfeed is the opportunity to bond with their children a belief also shared by health professionals. And while the conceptualization of bonding has since evolved, the importance of breastfeeding to bonding remains a stalwart belief in popular culture.
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Indeed, breastfeeding naturally supplies the opportunity for skin-to-skin contact, and thus - in theory – should encourage affiliative emotions. In line with Klaus and Kennell’s original bonding theory that emphasized physical proximity and skin-to-skin contact as necessary for maternal bonding, both lay and academic literature tend to favor breastfeeding as a vehicle for promoting maternal bonding and care. Originally conceptualized to occur within a “critical period” hours after birth, mediated by physical contact, bonding is now construed as ‘ an affective state’ of the parent, that emerges during pregnancy or immediately after birth, and continues to develop over the first months of the infant’s life, and can be assessed using maternal self-report instruments. Mother-infant bonding is one aspect of this relationship, referring to the process in which a mother forms an affectionate attachment to her infant. The quality of the relationship between parents and their infant children plays a central role in psychological development. Theoretical and methodological bases of these findings are discussed. These findings suggest that among healthy mothers, breastfeeding may not be a central factor in mother-infant bonding, nor is it protective against the negative impact of mood symptoms and bonding difficulties. Further, hierarchical regression revealed a positive relationship between bonding, daytime fatigue and depression symptoms only among women who were currently breastfeeding. This negative result was confirmed with Bayesian analysis demonstrating that the probability for the null hypothesis was 4.5 times greater than the hypothesized effect. Breastfeeding was associated with greater daytime fatigue, but not with any other sleep problem, and was not associated with bonding. The PBQ correlated with both the EPDS and PSQI. 65.7% reported current breastfeeding, 22.1% past breastfeeding, 12.2% never nursed. Two hundred seventy-one mothers (21–46 years) completed the survey.
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The main outcome measures were breastfeeding history, bonding (Postpartum Bonding Questionnaire, PBQ), mood (Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale, EPDS) and sleep (Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index, PSQI).
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MethodĪ cross-sectional survey was administered to a convenience sample of Israeli mothers of infants ages 1–9 months. This study aimed to confirm whether a positive association between breastfeeding and bonding exists and whether breastfeeding may be protective against the negative consequences of mood and sleep disturbances on bonding. Breastfeeding is believed to facilitate bonding, yet only a handful of studies have empirically tested this assertion. Bonding refers to emotions and cognitions towards one’s infant.