Abstract
Background: There has been no trial evaluating the
psychopathology in breastfeeding mothers of infants with food allergy
(FA).
Objective: To investigate the effect of dietary elimination on
maternal psychopathology, specifically stress/anxiety and
mother-to-infant bonding and explore the importance of sociodemographic
features on these variables.
Methods: Breastfeeding mothers following an elimination diet
due to FA in their children aged 1-to-12 months were compared with the
healthy controls. Physician-diagnosed FA group were divided into IgE-,
non-IgE-mediated and infants with some minor symptoms which were not
enough to make the diagnosis of FA were classified as Indecisive
symptoms for FA group. Mothers completed standardized questionnaires
including Symptom Checklist 90R, Beck Depression/Anxiety Inventories
(BDI/BAI), Postpartum Bonding Questionnaire (Bonding).
Results: Of 179 mother-infants, 64 were healthy, 89 were FA, 16
were indecisive symptoms for FA. The mean age of the mothers and infants
were 31.1±4.7 years and 6.3±3.6 months. The physician diagnosed FA
groups had higher scores for anxiety (p=0.008), anger (p=0.042),
depression (p<0.001), obsession (p=0.002), phobia (p=0.008),
somatization (p=0.002) and general symptom index (GSI) (p=0.001), BDI
(p<0.001), BAI (p=0.008) and Bonding [attachment (p=0.001),
anger (p=0.019) and total (p=0.036)] than the healthy. The indecisive
symptoms for FA group had a similar score pattern to physician-diagnosed
FA except interpersonal sensitivity, BDI and attachment.
Conclusion: Breastfeeding mothers of infants with FA were
anxious, depressive and had many psychopathologies which affected
bonding. Interventions targeting negativity in caregivers’ social
relationships are urgently needed.