Grant: Doctoral Research Award: Canada Graduate Scholarships

Overview: Due to the COVID pandemic, more Canadian mothers are telling their doctors, midwives, and nurses about feelings of depression and anxiety. Community supports like peer support groups and counselling are helpful for many mothers, but some may need to take medications during pregnancy. It is good to treat depression to prevent problems for the mother and baby. Some babies, whose mothers takes these medications for depression, may cry a lot, have trouble breathing, be really sleepy, or have a hard time feeding. These babies need extra health care and support. We don't know if breastfeeding can help to lower these events, but we do know that breastfeeding helps babies of mothers who took other kinds of medication in pregnancy. This study will look at how the feeding method (breastfeeding, formula, or mixed feeding) might change a baby's health when the mom used medication for depression in pregnancy. Anticipated Outcomes: We think that babies who breastfeed or get breastmilk in a bottle will be able to stay in the room with their parents after birth, spend less time in hospital, and will not need to go to the emergency room, or be readmitted to the hospital. Contributions to the field: Medications for depression have been used for many years in pregnancy. We are still learning information about the best way to care for mothers and their babies. We will share the findings of this study with women and doctors, nurses, and midwives. This sharing will help people to make decisions that are best for them and their babies. Parents may choose to breastfeed or provide breastmilk to their baby if they know extra health care may not be needed for their baby. The findings of this study can be added to care plans in Ontario and across Canada. Because mental health affects overall wellbeing, we think that families, health care providers, health system leaders, and policy makers will be interested in this study.