Five Seasons Women’s Wellness: Health and Wellness Blog

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In a study to be presented today at the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine’s annual meeting in Chicago, researchers found that acupuncture may be an effective treatment for depression during pregnancy.

“Depression during pregnancy is an issue of concern because it has negative effects on both the mother and the baby as well as the rest of the family,” says Dr. Schnyer, one of the study’s authors.

The evaluator-blinded randomized trial divided 150 pregnant women diagnosed with Major Depressive Disorder into three treatment groups: a depression specific acupuncture group, a control acupuncture group and a massage group. Twelve treatments were given over a period of eight weeks.

The results showed that the women who received depression specific acupuncture experienced a significantly greater decrease in depression severity compared to the control and massage groups.

Schnyer says “The results of our study show that the acupuncture protocol we tested could be a viable treatment option for depression during pregnancy.”

A new Australian study suggests that babies that are breastfed for longer than six months could be at lower risk for mental health problems later in life.

Researchers found that children who were breastfed for less than six months had a 52% increased risk of a mental health problem at 2 years of age, a 55% increased risk at age 6, a 61% increased risk at age 8, and a 37% increased risk at age 10.

The findings are based on data from 2,366 Australian children over the past 16 years.

“Breastfeeding for a longer duration appears to have significant benefits for the onward mental health of the child into adolescence,” reported Dr. Wendy H. Oddy of the Telethon Institute for Child Health Research.

“Even when we adjust the results to take into account other factors such as the parents’ socio-economic situation, their education, their happiness and family functioning, we see that children that were breastfed for at least six months are at lower risk of mental health problems,” Dr. Oddy said.

Dr. Oddy said that children that were breastfed had particularly lower rates of delinquent, aggressive and anti-social behaviour, and overall were less depressed, anxious or withdrawn.

“These results are powerful evidence for more support to be given to mothers to help them breastfeed for longer,” she said.

A Yale School of Medicine study recently published in the American Journal of Obstetrics & Gynecology found that acupuncture can be used successfully to treat lower back and pelvic pain in women who are pregnant.

According to the study, pregnant women who received 1-week continuous auricular acupuncture treatment reported significantly less pain compared with those who received sham acupuncture or no treatment.

The study concluded that, “For a majority of participants receiving therapeutic acupuncture, pain relief was substantial and led to improvement of functional status. Hence, this study supports that use of acupuncture at specific auricular points is a safe and effective nonpharmacologic treatment of an important clinical entity for which there are currently few, if any, effective treatments.”

The rate of Caesarean section (c-section) has has increased from 4% in 1965 to about 33% today despite the rising concerns about increased complications for mother and baby.

Medscape Today spoke with expert Pamela K. Spry BSN, MS, PhD about the risks for birth by scalpel.

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