Newborns of depressed mothers

Abrams, Sonya; Field, Tiffany; Scafidi, Frank; Prodromidis, Margarita

doi:10.1002/1097-0355(199523)16:3<233::aid-imhj2280160309>3.0.co;2-1

Cited by 131 publications

(80 citation statements)

References 17 publications

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“…An organic difficulty in learning and/or performance on the habituation tasks is one explanation for unreliable discrimination performance at 6 mo. Newborns of depressed mothers show inferior performance on the Brazelton assessment (40,41), with lower orientation scores, abnormal reflexes, inferior excitability, and withdrawal scores (42). However, the successful discrimination at 10 mo by infants born to depressed mothers not treated with an SRI may be better explained by a delayed critical period trajectory caused by early stimulus deprivation.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 97%

Prenatal exposure to antidepressants and depressed maternal mood alter trajectory of infant speech perception

Weikum

Oberlander

Hensch

et al. 2012

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

168

107

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Language acquisition reflects a complex interplay between biology and early experience. Psychotropic medication exposure has been shown to alter neural plasticity and shift sensitive periods in perceptual development. Notably, serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SRIs) are antidepressant agents increasingly prescribed to manage antenatal mood disorders, and depressed maternal mood per se during pregnancy impacts infant behavior, also raising concerns about long-term consequences following such developmental exposure. We studied whether infants' language development is altered by prenatal exposure to SRIs and whether such effects differ from exposure to maternal mood disturbances. Infants from non-SRI-treated mothers with little or no depression (control), depressed but non-SRI-treated (depressed-only), and depressed and treated with an SRI (SRI-exposed) were studied at 36 wk gestation (while still in utero) on a consonant and vowel discrimination task and at 6 and 10 mo of age on a nonnative speech and visual language discrimination task. Whereas the control infants responded as expected (success at 6 mo and failure at 10 mo) the SRI-exposed infants failed to discriminate the language differences at either age and the depressed-only infants succeeded at 10 mo instead of 6 mo. Fetuses at 36 wk gestation in the control condition performed as expected, with a response on vowel but not consonant discrimination, whereas the SRI-exposed fetuses showed accelerated perceptual development by discriminating both vowels and consonants. Thus, prenatal depressed maternal mood and SRI exposure were found to shift developmental milestones bidirectionally on infant speech perception tasks.L anguage, our most quintessential human characteristic, involves a complex interplay between biology and experience. At birth, infants possess an initial preparedness for language and a developmental readiness that supports learning any of the world's languages (1-3), yet also already show privileged processing to the native language from prenatal listening experience (4-6). During the following weeks and months of life, infants become progressively attuned to the properties of their native language, including its rhythmical and segmental (e.g., consonant) information (reviewed in refs. 7 and 8). The high degree of regularity in the timing of sequential tuning to properties of the native language suggests a series of critical or sensitive periods, i.e., points in development when the system is maximally influenced by input.The timing of onset of these sensitive periods seems to be maturationally constrained. Infants born 3 mo preterm attune to the phonetic properties (9) of their native language at the same gestational age as full-term infants, not according to the number of months of postnatal listening experience. Such maturational constraints can protect development: ensuring the optimal consecutive stabilization of the perceptual components that contribute in a step-wise fashion to language acquisition (10). However, it is known from research i...

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 97%

Prenatal exposure to antidepressants and depressed maternal mood alter trajectory of infant speech perception

Weikum

Oberlander

Hensch

et al. 2012

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

168

107

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“…29 Few studies have analyzed the neurobehavior of neonates born to mothers with depression during gestation. Abrams et al 30 evaluated 47 newborns of mothers with depression, identified by the Beck Depression Inventory, and administered the NBAS in the first 24 hours after birth. Compared to babies of mothers without depression, the neonates born to mothers with depression had lower scores on the orientation cluster and exhibited less motor tone and activity, more irritability, and less robustness and endurance during the examination.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Depression during gestation in adolescent mothers interferes with neonatal neurobehavior

Barros

Mitsuhiro

Chalem

et al. 2013

Rev. Bras. Psiquiatr.

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Objective: To compare the neurobehavior of neonates born to adolescent mothers with and without depression during gestation. Methods: This prospective cross-sectional study included healthy term neonates born to adolescent mothers with untreated depression during gestation, without exposure to legal or illicit drugs, and compared them with infants born to adolescent mothers without psychiatric disorders. Maternal psychiatric diagnoses were assessed by the Composite International Diagnostic Interview (CIDI 2.1) and neonatal neurobehavior by the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit Network Neurobehavioral Scale (NNNS) at 24 to 72 hours of life. Neurobehavioral outcomes were analyzed by ANOVA adjusted for confounders. Results: 37 infants born to mothers with depression during gestation were compared to 332 infants born to mothers without psychiatric disorders. Infants of mothers with depression had smaller head circumferences. Significant interactions of maternal depression and male gender, gestational age . 40 weeks, regional anesthesia during delivery, vaginal delivery, and infant head circumference o 34 cm were found. Worse performance was noted in the following neonatal neurobehavioral parameters: arousal, excitability, lethargy, hypotonicity, and signs of stress and abstinence. Conclusion: Infants born to adolescent mothers with depression exhibit some behavioral changes in the first days of life. These changes are associated with infant sex, gestational age, type of anesthesia, mode of delivery, and head circumference.

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“…5 Children of depressed mothers are more likely to have delayed psychological, cognitive, neurological, and motor development, and are at higher risk of avoidance and distressed behavior. [27][28][29] In fact, depressed mothers, compared with nondepressed mothers, report a 3-fold greater risk of serious emotional problems in their children and a 10-fold greater risk of having poor mother-child relations. 30 The withdrawn, unresponsive, or negative behavior of a depressed mother early in the infant's life seems to affect maternal-infant attachment 31 and result in fussier infants who vocalize less and make fewer positive facial expressions than infants of mothers who are not depressed.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…30 The withdrawn, unresponsive, or negative behavior of a depressed mother early in the infant's life seems to affect maternal-infant attachment 31 and result in fussier infants who vocalize less and make fewer positive facial expressions than infants of mothers who are not depressed. 27,29,[32][33][34] The abnormal patterns of mother-infant interactions associated with maternal depression have been described as a vicious cycle that increases the likelihood of chronic mental health, emotional, and family function problems. 35,36 Children's behavioral difficulties associated with maternal depression may continue through at least ages 4 to 8 years.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Postpartum Depression Screening: Importance, Methods, Barriers, and Recommendations for Practice

Gjerdingen¹,

Yawn²

2007

The Journal of the American Board of Family Medicine

259

185

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Background: Postpartum depression occurs in 10% to 20% of women who have recently given birth, but fewer than half of cases are recognized. The purpose of this review is to discuss the potential benefit of mass screening for improving postpartum depression recognition and outcomes.Methods: A review of the literature was conducted by searching MEDLINE, using the key words "depression," "postpartum depression," and "mass screening." The Cochrane database was also searched for reviews on depression and postpartum depression.Results: Opportunities for routine postpartum depression screening include mothers' postpartum office visits and their infants' well-child visits. Although several depression screens have been used in postpartum women, additional studies using large representative samples are needed to identify the ideal screening tool. Depression screening plus "high-risk" feedback to providers improves the recognition of depression. However, for screening to positively impact clinical outcomes, it needs to be combined with systems-based enhanced depression care that provides accurate diagnoses, strong collaborative relationships between primary care and mental health providers, and longitudinal case management, to assure appropriate treatment and follow-up. Depression is common and costly, particularly for women in their childbearing years. The World Health Organization has identified major depression as the fourth leading cause of burden among all diseases, and the leading cause of years lived with disability. Conclusions: Postpartum depression screening improves recognition of the disorder, but improvement in clinical outcomes1 It is estimated that depression costs the United States $30 billion to $50 billion in lost productivity and direct medical costs each year.2 By 2020, depressive illness is expected to be the second leading cause of disability in the world.3 The burden is greatest for women, with a lifetime risk for major depressive disorder of 20% to 25%, approximately twice the 7% to 12% rate seen with men. 4 In the first 3 months after childbirth, 14.5% of women have a new episode of major or minor depression, 5 and 10% to 20% of mothers are believed to suffer with depression sometime during their postpartum course, 6 making postpartum depression the most common serious postpartum disorder.There is some controversy about whether rates of depression increase after delivery, and whether postpartum depression is a distinct entity from nonpostpartum depression. A British case-control study of mothers from 4 general practices found a 3-fold higher incidence of depression within 5 weeks after childbirth.7 Similarly, a Norwegian study comparing postpartum with nonpostpartum women found a 1.8-fold greater risk for depression in postpartum women.8 However, other researchers have not found the risk of depression to be an higher in postpartum women, compared with other young women, suggesting that postpartum depression may not be a distinct condition but merely major depression recognized at a time of potentia...

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Newborns of depressed mothers

Cited by 131 publications

References 17 publications

Prenatal exposure to antidepressants and depressed maternal mood alter trajectory of infant speech perception

Prenatal exposure to antidepressants and depressed maternal mood alter trajectory of infant speech perception

Depression during gestation in adolescent mothers interferes with neonatal neurobehavior

Postpartum Depression Screening: Importance, Methods, Barriers, and Recommendations for Practice

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