Mexico Medical Student |

I knew it!! I knew there had to be a connection between birth and depression in fathers as well, and a new study confirms this. Of course, what dad goes through doesn’t hold a candle to the hormonal and physical changes in the mother, but the alteration of lifestyle, sleep, shifts in priority, etc. can take its toll if the father is already dysthymic or otherwise borderline for a major depressive episode. (this assumes, of course, that the father gives a damn, which is unfortunately not always a given)

However, I found this odd:

In general, the study found, mothers who scored above this threshold reported less interaction with their babies — reading to them or playing games less often than non-depressed mothers did. [...] Depressed fathers reported less play with their infants as well. And women whose husbands were depressed read to their baby less often than other mothers did — pointing to the potential effects a spouse’s depression can have on the other parent.

Ok, I’m convinced my child’s mental capacity will exceed mine; she’s already showing certain development well outpacing where she should be on paper at the moment. But even my daughter’s preparation for world domination does not include the ability to comprehend or otherwise benefit from story reading at 11 weeks. I play and talk to her all the time, but break out a children’s book and read? I think that’s a bit much, but then again, what do I know…peds sure isn’t my area.