Postpartum depressive symptoms and stress are associated with more frequent feeding to soothe in an observational...

Feeding to soothe, referring to parent feeding in response to an infant's distress, is associated with greater subsequent child weight gain, BMI, and emotional eating. Impaired parent mental health and well-being are associated with adverse feeding behaviors in childhood, but scant research has investigated associations with infant feeding behaviors. The current study examines associations of postpartum depressive symptoms, perceived stress, and sleep quality with feeding to soothe at 2 and 6 months postpartum. Data are from the Pregnancy Eating Attributes Study (PEAS), a cohort study of participants enrolled at ≤ 12 weeks gestation and followed through one year postpartum. Participants (analytic n = 272) completed self-report questionnaires including the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale, Perceived Stress Scale, Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index, and Food to Soothe questionnaire. Separate linear regression models were used to examine associations of depressive symptoms, stress, and sleep quality with feeding to soothe at each timepoint. Depressive symptoms, perceived stress, and sleep quality were positively correlated. At both 2 and 6 months postpartum, greater depressive symptoms and higher perceived stress were associated with more frequent feeding to soothe. However, sleep quality was not associated with feeding to soothe at either timepoint. Despite strong positive correlations among depressive symptoms, stress, and sleep quality, the null association of sleep quality with feeding to soothe suggests that aspects of mental health may be more important for parent feeding practices. Parent mental health may be an important consideration in interventions to promote optimal infant feeding practices and subsequent child health outcomes.