Chinese research has found that mothers who have an epidural during childbirth may be less likely to suffer from post-natal depression.
The research showed that women who had an epidural during labour had a 14% rate of depression six weeks after birth. However, this rose to 35% for mothers who decided to refrain from using the pain relief.
They also found that breastfeeding was more common in the women who opted for the epidural (70%) than those who didn’t (50%).
Dr Katherine Wisner, a perinatal psychiatrist at Northwestern University in the US wrote a report on the research. She said:
“Pain control gets the mother off to a good beginning rather than starting off defeated and exhausted.
“Whether it’s vaginal or Caesarean section delivery, pain control [during and after the birth] is an issue for all new mothers.
“There is no way to have a delivery without pain. The objective here is to avoid severe pain.
“Controlling that delivery pain so a woman can comfortably develop as a mother is something that makes a lot of sense.”
Dr Wisner said the research was very important as “It’s a huge omission that there has been almost nothing in past research about pain during labour and delivery and postpartum depression.
“There is a well-known relationship between acute and chronic pain and depression.”
