Breastfeeding Difficulties Predict Mothers’ Bonding with Their Infants from Birth to Age Six Months

Roth, M; Humphreys, Kathryn L.; King, Lucy S.; Gotlib, Ian H.; Robakis, Thalia

doi:10.1007/s10995-020-03036-9

Cited by 17 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 53 publications

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“…Lastly, there were many potentially important variables that we did not measure in the current study, such as breastfeeding difficulties, cesarian delivery, and birth-related trauma, all of which have been linked with maternal-infant bonding problems (Roth et al, 2021;Sockol et al, 2014;Stuijfzand et al, 2020). Perhaps most critically, we did not assess infant regulatory capacity or temperament, which are both associated with bonding strength; infant regulatory problems (Provenzi et al, 2021), a difficult and unpredictable infant temperament (Tolja et al, 2020), and infant negative emotionality (Nolvi et al, 2016) predict lower self-reported maternal-infant bonding, even after controlling for maternal depression and anxiety.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Parents of twins often express concern that the need to be highly task-focused interferes with opportunities to bond with their babies (Gowling et al, 2021;Holditch-Davis et al, 1999). Breastfeeding challenges, common with twins (Cinar et al, 2013;Wenze et al, 2020), have also been linked with disrupted maternal-infant bonding (Roth et al, 2021). Finally, some…”

Section: Statement Of Relevance To Infant and Childhood Early Mental ...mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Parents of twins often express concern that the need to be highly task‐focused interferes with opportunities to bond with their babies (Gowling et al., 2021; Holditch‐Davis et al., 1999). Breastfeeding challenges, common with twins (Cinar et al., 2013; Wenze et al., 2020), have also been linked with disrupted maternal‐infant bonding (Roth et al., 2021). Finally, some mothers of twins' express feelings of irritability and jealousy toward mothers of singletons (Wenze et al., 2020), which might also disrupt the bonding process with their babies.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Two babies, two bonds: Frequency and correlates of differential maternal‐infant bonding in mothers of twins

Wenze,

Mikula,

Battle

2024

Infant Mental Health Journal

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We assessed prevalence and correlates of differential maternal‐infant bonding (i.e., experiencing a stronger bond with one baby vs. the other) in mothers of twins, focusing on aspects of maternal mental health, well‐being, and pregnancy/birth that have been previously linked with maternal‐infant bonding. Participants (N = 108 American women, 88.89% White, 82.41% non‐Hispanic, aged 18–45, who gave birth to twins in the past 6–24 weeks) were recruited from postpartum support websites. Participants completed a Qualtrics survey assessing pregnancy/birth history, symptoms of depression and anxiety, sleep, stress, romantic relationship satisfaction, and postpartum bonding. Twenty‐six participants (24.07%) reported a bonding discrepancy. These participants endorsed higher symptoms of depression and anxiety, lower relationship satisfaction, lower average postpartum bonding, higher general and parenting stress, and longer pregnancy (all ps > .05). Greater degree of bonding discrepancy correlated with more depression, higher parenting stress, longer pregnancy, and lower relationship satisfaction (all ps > .05). Mothers of twins may benefit from postpartum mental health support, stress management strategies, and interventions to improve bonding. Future work should assess the role of breastfeeding difficulties, delivery method, birth‐related trauma, infant regulatory capacity, and temperament. Longitudinal studies will help test cause and effect and potential long‐term repercussions of maternal‐infant bonding discrepancies.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Statement Of Relevance To Infant and Childhood Early Mental ...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Two babies, two bonds: Frequency and correlates of differential maternal‐infant bonding in mothers of twins

Wenze,

Mikula,

Battle

2024

Infant Mental Health Journal

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“…For example, many caregivers report highly elaborated working models of their child (even when interviewed before they have yet met [during gestation]; Dayton, Levendosky, Davidson, & Bogat, 2010), intense emotions and feelings of bond (e.g., caregivers often report a "preoccupation with the interests and wants" of the baby; Swain et al, 2007), and great delight in their child (e.g., nearly three-quarters of mothers report thoughts of "perfection" about their 3-4 month-old infant; Leckman et al, 1999). Positive feelings of bond toward infants (e.g., joy, love, protection) appear to increase across the first 6 months of the infant's life (Roth, Humphreys, King, Gotlib, & Robakis, 2021).…”

Section: Individual Differences In Caregivers' Perceptions Of and Behaviors Towards Their Childrenmentioning

confidence: 99%

Advancing the RDoC initiative through the assessment of caregiver social processes

et al. 2021

Self Cite

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The relationships infants and young children have with their caregivers are fundamental to their survival and well-being. Theorists and researchers across disciplines have attempted to describe and assess the variation in these relationships, leading to a general acceptance that caregiving is critical to understanding child functioning, including developmental psychopathology. At the same time, we lack consensus on how to assess these fundamental relationships. In the present paper, we first review research documenting the importance of the caregiver–child relationship in understanding environmental risk for psychopathology. Second, we propose that the National Institute of Mental Health's Research Domain Criteria (RDoC) initiative provides a useful framework for extending the study of children's risk for psychopathology by assessing their caregivers’ social processes. Third, we describe the units of analysis for caregiver social processes, documenting how the specific subconstructs in the domain of social processes are relevant to the goal of enhancing knowledge of developmental psychopathology. Lastly, we highlight how past research can inform new directions in the study of caregiving and the parent–child relationship through this innovative extension of the RDoC initiative.

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“…The scale was also used to evaluate father-infant attachment in research on fathers' involvement in the delivery and postpartum processes and their sense of parenthood (Brandao & Figueiredo, 2012;Suchy et al, 2020). In the relevant literature, the scale was administered to mothers (Coktay & Turk, 2020;Eapen et al, 2014;Ertan et al, 2021;Escasa, 2012;Handelzalts et al, 2016;Horsch et al, 2017;Lim, 2013;López-Fernández et al, 2021;Mayopoulos et al, 2021;Mendelson et al, 2018;Roth et al, 2021;Shreffler et al, 2021;Tichelman et al, 2021;Wittkowski et al, 2007) fathers (Shorey et al, 2019;Stuijfzand et al, 2020;Suchy et al, 2020), and caregivers (Foli et al, 2012;South et al, 2012) in the prenatal and postnatal periods. In addition, the scale has already been adapted into different cultures in several countries (e.g., the United States, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, France, Switzerland, Australia, Singapore, Turkey, Indonesia, and Israel) (Karakulak & Alparslan, 2016;Mörelius et al, 2021;Ohara et al, 2016;Wiguna & Ismail, 2019).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Reliability Generalization Meta-Analysis of the Mother-To-Infant Bonding Scale

et al. 2022

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The Mother-to-Infant Bonding Scale (MIBS) is among the most popular measurement tools to evaluate caregiver-infant attachment. We carried out a meta-analysis study to explore the generalizability of the reliability coefficients for the MIBS in different studies. The literature review yielded a total of 702 studies investigating caregiver-infant attachment. After removing duplicate studies, we also excluded compilations, meta-analyses, qualitative studies, those using different measurement tools, studies published in a language other than English, citations, and those whose full texts could not be accessed. Eventually, we considered a total of 26 studies with 33 Cronbach’s alpha coefficients that satisfied the inclusion criteria. We normalized the alpha coefficients using Bonett’s transformation, and the analyses were performed using a 95% confidence interval. The findings revealed a Cronbach’s alpha ( n = 33) coefficient of 0.73 (CI = 0.68–0.77); hence, the present reliability generalization study provides evidence that the reliability scores produced after measurements with the MIBS in previous studies are acceptable across samples. Overall, further studies may reliably utilize the MIBS to evaluate mother-infant attachment.

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Breastfeeding Difficulties Predict Mothers’ Bonding with Their Infants from Birth to Age Six Months

Cited by 17 publications

References 53 publications

Two babies, two bonds: Frequency and correlates of differential maternal‐infant bonding in mothers of twins

Two babies, two bonds: Frequency and correlates of differential maternal‐infant bonding in mothers of twins

Advancing the RDoC initiative through the assessment of caregiver social processes

A Reliability Generalization Meta-Analysis of the Mother-To-Infant Bonding Scale

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