Intellectual problems shown by 1-year-old children whose mothers had postnatal depression

The aim of the study was to examine long-term sequelae in the children of m others who were depressed at 3 months postpartum. In a community sample fro m two general practices in South London, 149 women were given psychiatric i nterviews at 3 months postpartum and 132 of their children (89 %) were test ed at 11 years of age. The children of women who were depressed at 3 months postpartum had significantly lower IQ scores. They also had attentional pr oblems and difficulties in mathematical reasoning, and were more likely tha n other children to have special educational needs. Boys were more severely affected than girls, with the sex difference most pronounced on Performanc e IQ. The links between postnatal depression and the children's intellectua l problems were not mediated by parental IQ and were not accounted for by m easures of social disadvantage nor by the mother's later mental health prob lems. Breastfeeding did not remove the effect of the mother's illness on Fu ll Scale IQ, but exerted its own influence on Verbal IQ and appeared to med iate the link with mathematical ability. The findings show that adverse exp eriences in infancy predict cognitive ability and academic performance a de cade later.