Maternal mental health and infant feeding practices cohort protocol: Methodology and baseline characteristics

Objectives: The objectives of the current work are to describe the maternal mental health and infant feeding practices cohort design and methodology and to report the baseline sociodemographic characteristics of the participants. Materials and Methods: This 6-month prospective cohort study recruited women from post-partum wards in hospitals in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Participants were contacted at three timelines (at delivery, at 3- and 6-month postpartum). Questionnaires with validated tools were used to collect sociodemographic characteristics, maternal and infant anthropometry, breastfeeding practices, breastfeeding self-efficacy, postnatal depression and anxiety. Results: Four hundred and fifty-seven participants with their newborns were recruited. The majority were Emiratis and Arabs (71%), multiparous (77.2%) and not working (60%). About 7.7% of the infants had low birth weight and 3.9% were macrosomic. Most women received Kangaroo care (84.5%) and rooming-in (93.0%). Only 70% of the women initiated breastfeeding and 24.3% planned to breastfeed exclusively as long as possible. The prevalence of maternal post-partum anxiety was high (70%), and 25% of the participants had major/high depressive symptomatology. Overall, participants showed a high level of breastfeeding self-efficacy and the majority perceived receiving great support from parents, spouses, in-laws, family and friends. Conclusions: This article presents the design and methodology of one of the pioneer cohorts in the Middle East and Gulf region investigating maternal mental health and its relation to breastfeeding practices and providing recent evidence for the prevalence of PPD. The results of this study will highlight the significance of maternal psychosocial factors on breastfeeding practices in the UAE.