Although strong empirical evidence regarding the associations among breastfeeding and pregnancy or postpartum depression was separately provided, further research, such as prospective studies, is needed to clarify the association among these three variables. Help for depressed pregnant women should be delivered to enhance both breastfeeding and postpartum psychological adjustment.

Studies demonstrate that breastfeeding can protect mothers from postpartum depression, and are starting to clarify which biological and psychological processes may explain this protection. However, there are still equivocal results in the literature that may be explained by the methodological limitations presented by some studies.

Results provided evidence that the antenatal Portuguese version of the Breastfeeding Self-Efficacy Scale-Short Form is a valid and reliable measure to assess breastfeeding self-efficacy in pregnant women. The antenatal version of the Breastfeeding Self-Efficacy Scale-Short Form could be a useful tool to assist Portuguese health professionals during routine prenatal care appointments to screen women with lower antenatal breastfeeding self-efficacy and, consequently, those that could be at risk for not initiating or early breastfeeding cessation.

Although infant sleep-wake behavior presents several developmental changes during the first six months, literature lacks on reference values and few studies have explored the role of individual change and stability on infant sleep-wake behavior during the first six months. This study aimed (1) to describe infant sleep-wake behaviors during the 24-h period, day and night, at two weeks, three, and six months, (2) and to explore developmental changes and the role of individual change and stability on infant sleep-wake behaviors from two weeks to six months. Ninety-four primiparous mothers completed measures on infant sleep-wake behaviors at two weeks, three and six months. Significant developmental changes were found on infant sleep-wake behaviors from two weeks to six months. Two-week-old infants sleep 13.3h, spend 8.7h awake, awake 6.1 times, have 0.4h of latency to sleep, and 3.2h of longest sleep period. Three-month-old infants sleep 13.0h, spend 9.2h awake, awake 5.5 times, have 0.4h of latency to sleep, and 5.2h of longest sleep period. Six-month-old infants sleep 12.2h, spend 10.0h awake, awake 5.2 times, have 0.4h of latency to sleep, and 5.6h of longest sleep period. Significant individual change and stability were also found on infant sleep-wake behaviors from two weeks to six months. Despite significant developmental and individual changes, individual stability explains a significant amount of the variance on infant sleep-wake behaviors over the first six months of life.

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