Reducing the stress of mothers in the postpartum period: psychological inflexibility or mother-infant bonding

ABSTRACT

Background

Parental stress is a critical problem because it affects both the mental health of the mother and children’s development. In addition to many factors related to birth and marriage, mother – infant bonding and psychological inflexibility are essential factors that can affect stress. In this study, we examined the effects of the psychological processes of mothers and factors related to pregnancy, mother, environment on parental stress, and their relationships.

Methods

A sociodemographic variables scale, Acceptance and Action Questionnaire-II, Postpartum Bonding Questionnaire, and Parental Stress Scale were completed by 115 mothers in their first postpartum year. The model created with the correlation and regression results was subjected to path analysis.

Results

Breastfeeding, psychological inflexibility, and mother – infant bonding are related to parental stress. The bonding problem is the mediator of the relationship between psychological inflexibility and parental stress. The entire effect of sleep quality on parental stress occurred through psychological inflexibility.

Conclusion

Efforts should be directed towards improving the bond between the mother and infant and enhancing the mother’s psychological flexibility to lessen the negative impacts of stress. Breastfeeding should not be treated categorically, and its potential adverse effects should not be ignored.

KEYWORDS:

• Mother–infant relations
• acceptance and commitment therapy
• mothers
• psychological stress
• breastfeeding

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Authors’ contributions

F.B.A.: Writing- Review and Editing, E.S.: Data Collecting, E.T.: Statistics and Formal analysis, H.Ş.B.: Conceptualization, Supervision, O.G.: Conceptualization, Supervision.

Data sharing statement

Data are available on request from the corresponding author.

Ethics approval statement

Procedures for this study were approved by the Ethics Committee of Başakşehir Çam and Sakura City Hospital (no 2023–55). Informed consent was obtained from all participants. The research was conducted in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki.

Additional information

Funding

This research did not receive any specific grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.