Postpartum depression may affect how a mother interacts with her baby. Researchers have observed that depressed mothers may be less engaged with their babies and less responsive to their cues. The concern is that these early disruptions in the mother-child relationship may have long-term consequences.

While treatment with either therapy or medications may be very helpful for lifting a mother’s mood, there may be other interventions that can improve a depressed mother’s capacity to engage with and care for her baby.

Researchers from the University of Alberta, led by psychologist Dr Vivienne Jung, have introduced a program called Keys to Caregiving. This program helps mothers to understand their babies and to respond more effectively.

“Obviously the baby can’t talk,” Dr Robert Short, a member of the research team, said. “But they have facial expressions and body movements and hand movements and so on. The program essentially teaches the mother how to respond appropriately even though they’re depressed

“If we can get the mother to, even though she is depressed, go through the repertoire of skills and interactions that are taught in this type of intervention then at least the baby’s development is not being hampered and affected by her depression,” Short explained

A pilot study carried out with 11 mother-infant pars the researchers demonstrated that after the intervention, babies were more engaged with their mothers and showed more positive emotions. The authors suggest that the Keys to Caregiving program may also be helpful for non-depressed mothers — teen mothers, for instance — who may need help with parenting.