Perinatal depression and maternal-infant bonding disorders in mothers of full-term normal infants.

BACKGROUND: The period during pregnancy to postnatal is vital for developing of mother-infant bond. A mother suffering from depression may have issues with forming effective bonding. An evaluation of whether perinatal depression influences mother-infant bonding has scarcely been studied in Kenya. OBJECTIVES: This study aimed to evaluate the relationship between perinatal depression and impaired maternal bonding among postpartum mothers. METHODOLOGY: A total of 225 postpartum mothers aged between 18-49 years at 6-12 weeks postpartum at a ratio of 1:2 (cases: controls) were selected. Women who had MIBD were enrolled as cases while mothers without MIBD were controls. Two self-report scale tools; the Postpartum Bonding Questionnaire scale and the Edinburg Postnatal Depression scale were used at 6-12 weeks postpartum to obtain data on depression and bonding. A semi-structured questionnaire collected information on specific risk factors. RESULTS: The proportion of women with perinatal depression was 40% in the case group and 9.3% in the control group. The odds of having perinatal depression were 6.48 more in the cases than the controls (OR: 6.48, (95% C.I: 3.16, 13.28) and P-value <0.001. CONCLUSION: Perinatal depression is associated with impaired maternal bonding at 6-12 weeks postpartum.