Negative effect of dietary elimination on breastfeeding mothers having
infants with and without food allergy
Abstract
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.