human milk feeding

Mood, Mother & Infant: Oxytocin, Lactation, and Postpartum Depression

The relationship between breastfeeding and maternal mood is both complex and bidirectional. Anxiety and depression can interfere with breastfeeding success, while challenges with breastfeeding can, in turn, exacerbate mood symptoms. The physiology of oxytocin highlights how stress affects lactation: pain and anxiety inhibit milk ejection, making environmental and psychological support far more effective than pharmacologic strategies such as intranasal oxytocin. Finally, disparities in both breastfeeding rates and perinatal depression must be recognized. The disparities reflect structural inequities rather than individual choice. Addressing these gaps requires solutions that extend beyond the mother-infant dyad to include systemic policy and support interventions.
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Patrick Jones - Course author
Meet the instructor

Alison Stuebe, MD, MS

Dr. Alison Stuebe is a Distinguished Professor of Infant and Young Child Feeding at UNC and Co-Director of the UNC Center for Maternal and Infant Health. She earned a BS from Duke University and an MD from Washington University, completing residency and fellowship at Brigham and Women’s/Massachusetts General Hospital, with research on perinatal mental health and breastfeeding.

Learning Outcomes

At the conclusion of this activity, participants will be able to:

  • Describe the complex relationship between breastfeeding and postpartum depression.
  • Identify at least two mechanisms linking breastfeeding and postpartum depression.
  • Apply two strategies for integrated management of mood disorders and breastfeeding problems.
  • Describe the role of vital conditions in maternal health.

Course Content

Planning Committee

No one in control of content has any relevant financial relationships with ineligible companies.*
No one in control of content has any relevant financial relationships with ineligible companies.*

Course Information

This is a recording of the Thomas A. Leonard, MD, Memorial Lecture on 16 October 2024, at the 2024 Wisconsin Perinatal Conference.

The expiration date for this course is October 6, 2028.

*Ineligible companies are those whose primary business is producing, marketing, selling, reselling, or distributing health care products used by or on patients.