Relationship between postpartum anxiety and exclusive breast feeding

Anxiety disorder is one of the undesirable postpartum complications in some women and can have numerous risks for the health of the mother and newborn. Interference of anxiety with exclusive breastfeeding is one of these risks. Therefore, this research intended to determine the relationship between postpartum anxiety and exclusive breastfeeding in Qom. The statistical population in this case-control study consisted of mothers who had given birth to their babies not more than six months prior to the start of the research and, therefore, the samples were divided into 3 one-hundred-member groups based on the type of breastfeeding. In addition to using inclusion and exclusion criteria, the scope of the study was restricted to control confounding variables. A questionnaire on demographic characteristics and the standard Spielberger State-Trait Anxiety Inventory for Adults were used to collect data. The collected data was analyzed by using SPSS at the significance level of less than 0.05. The average scores found for covert and overt anxiety were 39.65 and 41.38, respectively. Thirty-nine percent of the women exhibited mild covert anxiety, 52.67% mild to moderate covert anxiety, and 8.33% severe covert anxiety. Moreover, 33, 55.67, and 11.33% of them suffered from mild, moderate, and severe overt anxiety, respectively. A significant correlation was found between covert and overt anxiety and exclusive breastfeeding (p<0.05). There was a significant correlation between postpartum covert and overt anxiety and exclusive breastfeeding so that greater levels of anxiety resulted in cessation of exclusive breastfeeding.