Child care is protective for children with depressed mothers

Child care may be a good choice to minimize the effects of a mother’s depression on her young children, a new study shows.

Research in recent years has pointed to the convergence of a woman’s depression and behavior problems in young children. Simply put, if a mother is depressed her young children are likely to exhibit more behavior and mood problems themselves and experience cognitive and language delays. The effects of postpartum depression on babies have been know for some time. But experts now believe that even toddlers and school-aged children are impacted by a mother who is sad.

The new study, conducted by scientists at the University of Adelaide, South Australia, looked at 438 mothers and children from pregnancy until the child was age 5. Researchers confirmed that children were much more likely to have behavior problems if their mothers were depressed. But those children who spent as little as four hours a week in formal day care at age 2 showed fewer behavior problems at age 5. Being in the program seemed to buffer the children against some of the effects of their mothers’ depression.

Rates of depression in women peak during the child-bearing years. Thus, the numbers of children exposed to maternal depression is high. But, the authors wrote: “Our results suggest that a modest amount of formal child care for toddlers of depressed mothers is a simple strategy that may have benefits for affected mothers and their children.”

The study was published online Sunday in the journal Pediatrics.

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