Breast milk not only has benefits for the baby: the mothers themselves also benefit from it, as a new study shows.
01/13/2026, 02:5401/13/2026, 02:54
A healthier child, fewer allergies and a lower risk of breast cancer for the mother – there are several advantages to breastfeeding. Now there’s another one, for the mother: breastfeeding reduces the risk of depression.
It was already known that breastfeeding mothers are less likely to suffer from postnatal depression and anxiety. But a new study that appeared in the British Medical Journal BMJ shows that breastfeeding also has a long-term effect: the researchers surveyed 168 mothers after the birth and again after ten years. The mothers were asked about depression diagnoses and factors such as daily exercise or diet.
Breastfeeding is healthy for both baby and mother, according to a new study.Image: Shutterstock
Among these mothers, the average duration of exclusive breastfeeding of their babies was 5.5 weeks. Combined with other nutrition, such as formula milk, the mothers breastfed for an average of 30 weeks, or 7 months. 13 percent of the mothers suffered from depression at the time of the survey, 21 percent had previously been affected by it.
Not only were the women who had depression younger on average and less physically active, they were also found to have breastfed for a shorter period of time. Each additional week of breastfeeding appears to reduce the risk of depression by 2 percent when other factors are taken into account, according to the study.
However, the researchers are aware that depression and anxiety can also reduce breastfeeding success: those who are already stressed are probably less able to breastfeed. But if it works, the researchers suspect, it will also have a psychologically strengthening effect: “We suspect that successful breastfeeding has a protective effect on postpartum depression, which in turn reduces the risk of depression in mothers in the long term.” (kus) (bzbasel.ch)