First time mothers of one 'at higher risk of depression'
A new study of maternal health has found that depression is more common when a child is four after a first birth than at any time during the first 12 months of a baby's life. The study evaluated 1,507 women at three, six, 12, 18 months and four years after giving birth.
Researchers were alarmed to find that women with only one child at four years after birth showed significantly higher levels of depression than women with one or two children.
Contributing factors reported were:
- Reporting depressive symptoms either in early pregnancy, or in the first 12 months after childbirth
- Being a young mother, aged 18-24
- Stressful life events in the year before the four year follow-up
- Violence from a partner
- Low income
But at four years after giving birth, 40% of women reporting depressive symptoms had not previously reported this.
More top news
Unsettled with rain, scattered showers and sunny spells
It is looking fairly unsettled on Friday with showers merging together in the west.
The humble builder's son who became a WW1 pilot hero
He was the humble son of a builder but Harold Satchell became a First World War pilot hero.
Giraffe killed after hitting head on bridge
A giraffe has died after hitting its head while being transported in South Africa