Emotional experiences during breastfeeding: time of day, family support and mental health

This study aimed to investigate the emotional experience of breastfeeding mothers; to compare their emotions during the day and night; and to identify predictors of maternal emotional states. 107 breastfeeding women completed daytime and nighttime online surveys. Mothers reported a more positive emotional experience during the daytime breastfeeding session. During the day, positive emotional state was most strongly predicted by perceived degree of family’s support, followed by mother’s mental health, overall sleep quality, child’s age, mother’s age and the mother’s immigrant status. In contrast, more positive experience during the nighttime was only associated with better subjectively rated mental health Our results suggest that maternal emotional experience needs to be understood as an interplay between mental health and social context.