Last week I spent more time in the hospital than in the office.
I reformatted my breastfeeding questionnaire to make it easier for the patients to answer. So last week my official questionnaire and scale were given to the receptionists at the front desk to be handed out to women coming in for postpartum appointments. Hopefully I'll have a good amount of scales to score and data to collect for my research.
Last Tuesday I observed three hysteroscopies in a row. Dr. Brotsky used the TRUCLEAR Operative Hysteroscopy System, a device that has visualization capabilities of a hysteroscope with minimally invasive tissue removal capabilities, for two of the surgeries.
Later that day, I met with Melissa, a lactation consultant, at Thunderbird. Melissa told me her personal story with postpartum depression after her first child and her perspective on mothers who could develop PPD with breastfeeding difficulties, especially first time mothers. I also joined her while visiting a patient who was having a hard time getting her baby to latch to breastfeed and witnessed the frustration with breastfeeding first-hand. I couldn't make a direct connection with PPD and breastfeeding based on my meeting with Melissa because she only meets with the patients while they're in the hospital whereas Dr. Brotsky requires prenatal and postnatal visits.
Hopefully this week I can meet with the social worker at the hospital and gain more insight on the connection between breastfeeding and PPD.
Stay tuned!
Hi Lizette! Could you explain more about how women can develop PPD with breastfeeding difficulties?
ReplyDeleteHey Liz!
ReplyDeleteFirst of all the direction in which this occurs is not well understood because difficulty breastfeeding can certainly be a factor in PPD and PPD can also affect willingness and duration of nursing.
There are studies that correlate what we see clinically. We see women who do not want to breastfeed and do perfectly well without breastfeeding. In contrast, the most distraught women appear to be those who, despite being strongly committed to breastfeeding, encounter difficulties and ultimately are not able to breastfeed. Similar to the woman I met who planned to breastfeed but, was having difficulty getting her baby to latch and successfully feed him.
Although most studies have not been able to capture this variable, it does seem that when there is a significant deviation between what was expected or planned for and what actually happens, this increase a woman’s vulnerability to PPD. The woman I met shared that she didn't expect breastfeeding to be a difficulty. She saw the delivery being the hardest part and she expected her milk and the baby's latch to come naturally and immediate, which they both will eventually but, with work and time.
Ultimately a host of things may happen – an unplanned C-section, complications at delivery, a baby who has medical issues, breastfeeding difficulties; all of these can be destabilizing and may be triggers for depression in many women, especially those who do not have adequate supports. However, I don't think it's safe to say that a woman having difficulty breastfeeding will develop PPD but, it can certainly be an important factor.