Abstract
Postpartum depression (PPD) of mothers has been suggested to have negative impacts on their children’s development, particularly in terms of development in communicative skills. The authors investigated whether PPD is associated with non‐verbal and verbal communicative skills at the age of 10 months to 3 years and 4 months with the Hamamatsu Birth Cohort Study of Mothers and Children (HBC Study) . Maternal PPD occurring during the first three months postpartum resulted in delay in development of both non‐verbal and verbal communicative skills. The association was statistically significant even after adjusting for known confounders such as breastfeeding status. This finding may provide an important clue to understanding the relationship between maternal PPD and mental health of the children.
