New mothers are most likely to be depressed four years after giving birth

Mothers are more likely to be depressed four years after childbirth than at any point in the first 12 months after giving birth, a study in BJOG: An International Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology has found.1 Women with only one child at four years post partum were more than twice as likely to report depressive symptoms as women with more children, the results of the Australian study showed.

The researchers recruited 1507 women to the study who were registered to give birth to their first child at six public hospitals in Melbourne. The women then completed questionnaires at 3, 6, 12, and 18 months, and then at four …