{"id":1959,"date":"2026-01-09T09:54:17","date_gmt":"2026-01-09T09:54:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmjopen\/?p=1959"},"modified":"2026-01-09T10:14:41","modified_gmt":"2026-01-09T10:14:41","slug":"breastfeeding-may-lower-mums-later-life-depression-anxiety-risks-for-up-to-10-years-after-pregnancy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmjopen\/2026\/01\/09\/breastfeeding-may-lower-mums-later-life-depression-anxiety-risks-for-up-to-10-years-after-pregnancy\/","title":{"rendered":"Breastfeeding may lower mums\u2019 later life depression\/anxiety risks for up to 10 years after pregnancy"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em>Associations apparent for any, exclusive, and cumulative (at least 1 year) breastfeeding<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Breastfeeding may lower mothers\u2019 later life risks of depression and anxiety for up to 10 years after pregnancy, suggest the <a href=\"https:\/\/bmjopen.bmj.com\/content\/16\/1\/e097323\">findings<\/a> of a small observational study, published in the open access journal <em><a href=\"https:\/\/bmjopen.bmj.com\/\">BMJ Open<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>The observed associations were apparent for any, exclusive, and cumulative (at least 12  months) breastfeeding, the study shows.<\/p>\n<p>Breastfeeding is associated with lower risks of postnatal depression and anxiety, but it\u2019s not clear if these lowered risks might persist in the longer term, say the researchers.<\/p>\n<p>For the full press release, view our Media Hub <a href=\"https:\/\/bmjgroup.com\/media-hub\/filters-bmj-open\/\">here<\/a>.<!--TrendMD v2.4.8--><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Associations apparent for any, exclusive, and cumulative (at least 1 year) breastfeeding Breastfeeding may lower mothers\u2019 later life risks of depression and anxiety for up to 10 years after pregnancy, suggest the findings of a small observational study, published in the open access journal BMJ Open. The observed associations were apparent for any, exclusive, and [&#8230;]<\/p>\n<p><a class=\"btn btn-secondary understrap-read-more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmjopen\/2026\/01\/09\/breastfeeding-may-lower-mums-later-life-depression-anxiety-risks-for-up-to-10-years-after-pregnancy\/\">Read More&#8230;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":521,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[511,15012],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1959","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-in-the-news","category-press-release"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Breastfeeding may lower mums\u2019 later life depression\/anxiety risks for up to 10 years after pregnancy - BMJ Open<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmjopen\/2026\/01\/09\/breastfeeding-may-lower-mums-later-life-depression-anxiety-risks-for-up-to-10-years-after-pregnancy\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Breastfeeding may lower mums\u2019 later life depression\/anxiety risks for up to 10 years after pregnancy - BMJ Open\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Associations apparent for any, exclusive, and cumulative (at least 1 year) breastfeeding Breastfeeding may lower mothers\u2019 later life risks of depression and anxiety for up to 10 years after pregnancy, suggest the findings of a small observational study, published in the open access journal BMJ Open. 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