Objectivity and subjectivity in postnatally depressed mothers' perceptions of their infants

A community sample of 82 new mothers' objective and subjective perceptions of their infants were assessed, using a specially designed questionnaire. Sixteen women had postnatal depression (PND), and thirteen women had developed PND but recovered by assessment. These women had a less positive view of their infants than women who had never had PND. However, the objective/subjective dichotomy, while meaningful to observers, did not structure their responses. The questionnaire items seemed to reflect new mothers' judgements of their infants, not their observations of them, even in apparently objective phenomena or physical symptoms. Maternal and infant well-being are not separable in questionnaires of maternal perceptions.