Postnatal Depression Lowers Fertility Levels; Causes Women To Have Fewer Children

Postnatal depression can render a woman unable to have more than two children as the effects of are similar to experiencing major birth complications. Researchers from the University of Kent studied the effect of the condition on older women that are first-time mothers. 

It is unclear how postnatal depression can affect a woman's fertility and her body's ability to produce children. In a press release made by EurekAlert, the researchers defined postnatal depression as an episode that happens within a year of giving birth. It is recurrent and women who are diagnosed with it may experience its symptoms again in the future. 

The researchers revealed that first-time mothers who experience postnatal depression may be unable to have more than two kids. It can cause mothers to have decreased fertility levels while experiencing high emotional distress which can dissuade them from having a third child. However, it did not influence their susceptibility of having a second child. The study reveals that the effects of postnatal depression are similar to having major birth complications.

Mothers with postnatal depression reluctant to have more than two children @KentSAC article https://t.co/HEBFC3F6Ta https://t.co/XSSO2tqLMN

— UniKent News (@UniKentNews) March 15, 2016

Some noted prenatal depression signs and symptoms, according to Baby Centre. This includes unhappiness, poor or increased appetite, insomnia, loss of libido, feelings of guilt and anxiety. 

"Having a bout of postnatal depression at both first and second birth had the second largest effect size on progression from parity 2," lead investigator Sarah Myers and her University of Kent colleagues said in the research article published by Evolution, Medicine & Public Health. "Smaller yet within the range of major birth complications."

For their research, they looked at survey data from 300 mothers born between 1930 and 1960 who lived in industrialized countries while rearing their children. It is unclear how postnatal depression affects women's fertility and the increasingly older population of women becoming first-time mothers. News Medical notes that the condition is 13 percent more prevalent in industrialized countries and emotional distress in mothers happen in more than 60 percent of mothers with infants.

There is a great need for looking into updated guidelines for maternal mental health, Headlines and Global News reports. This is especially true now with the increased birthing age among women and how it could affect the country's economic and financial situation in the future.