Maternal depressive symptoms affect infant cognitive development in Barbados

This longitudinal study is part of a series examining the relationships bet ween maternal mood, feeding practices, and infant growth and development du ring the first 6 months of life in 226 well-nourished mother-infant dyads i n Barbados. In this report, we assessed maternal moods (General Adjustment and Morale Scale and Zung Depression and Anxiety Scales), feeding practices (scales describing breast-feeding and other practices associated with infa nt feeding in this setting), and infant cognitive development (Griffiths Me ntal Development Scales). Multivariate analyses, with and without controlli ng for background variables, established significant relationships between maternal moods and infant cognitive development. Infants of mothers with mi ld-moderate depression had lower Griffiths scores than infants of mothers w ithout depression. Maternal depressive symptoms and lack of trust at 7 week s predicted lower infant social and performance scores at 3 months. Materna l moods at 6 months were associated with lower scores in motor development at the same age. Although no independent relationships emerged between feed ing practices and infant cognitive development, the combination of diminish ed infant feeding intensity and maternal depression predicted delays in inf ant social development. These findings demonstrate the need to carefully mo nitor maternal moods during the postpartum period, in order to maximize the benefits of breast-feeding and related health programs to infant cognitive development.