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Breastfeeding Difficulties: How Can We Help New Moms?

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June 16, 2025

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Although new mothers describe breastfeeding as a meaningful and fulfilling aspect of caring for their infants, breastfeeding is also a common source of stress and anxiety. Our most recent episode of our podcast, So Glad You Asked with Dr. Ruta Nonacs, discusses many of the challenges that come with breastfeeding.

How Breastfeeding Problems Can Impact Maternal Mental Health

While many tout the positive impact of breastfeeding on emotional well-being, breastfeeding difficulties and mental health are closely linked, with problems around breastfeeding often increasing the risk of negative mental health outcomes for mothers. In addition, multiple studies have demonstrated a link between breastfeeding difficulties and postpartum depression.

Increased Risk of Depression and Anxiety: Multiple studies have found that women who experience breastfeeding challenges—such as pain, latching difficulties, or low milk supply—are at higher risk for postpartum depression and anxiety symptoms1 6 7
Early Cessation and Mental Health: Women who stop breastfeeding earlier than intended, especially due to problems, are more likely to develop postpartum depression compared to those who stop for other reasons.
Impact on Identity: Technical breastfeeding challenges and pain can undermine maternal identity and increase feelings of stress and failure, contributing to poor mental health outcomes.
Bonding Difficulty: Mothers who experience breastfeeding difficulties are at risk for reduced bonding with their infants in the first 6 months after birth.

How Can We Best Support Those Experiencing Breastfeeding Difficulties?

It’s important to remember that there are many different ways to feed your baby. While the American Academy of Pediatrics and other medical organizations recommend exclusive breastfeeding for the first six months of a child’s life, breastfeeding does not always work out. In fact, only one in 4 women are able to reach this goal, and that’s OK. There are other, perfectly acceptable options, and the right choice is the one that works best for you and your baby.

Even when excellent support and resources are available, breastfeeding may not be successful, and for most mothers, this is experienced as a loss. During the postpartum period, when feeding is one of the key aspects of caring for an infant, not being able to breastfeed successfully is a major stressor and a challenge that may make a mother feel incompetent or ineffective in her new role as a mother. In this setting, mothers feel disappointment, grief, sadness, and often shame.

Given the impact breastfeeding difficulties may have on maternal competence, bonding and vulnerability to depression, we need to broaden our definition of lactation support. The primacy of exclusive breastfeeding creates a situation where anything short of that ideal feels like a failure. We need to help mothers to understand that while there are benefits to breastfeeding, it is but one element of mothering a new baby and that there are so many other things that mothers can do to promote bonding and well-being. We have to remind mothers that simply holding, touching, and communicating with their babies can have profound beneficial effects on the baby and the mother.

And finally, we strongly believe that supporting mothers in their efforts to breastfeed also means allowing or advising them to stop breastfeeding when they are having significant or unresolvable difficulties and helping them to feel comfortable with this decision. Far too often, women feel ashamed and inadequate as mothers when they cannot (or choose not) to breastfeed. Being a new mom is stressful enough, we don’t have to make it worse.

Ruta Nonacs, MD PhD

References:

Roth MC, Humphreys KL, King LS, Gotlib IH, Robakis TK. Breastfeeding Difficulties Predict Mothers’ Bonding with Their Infants from Birth to Age Six Months. Matern Child Health J. 2021 Feb 2.

Rowles G, Keenan J, Wright NJ, Hughes K, Pearson R, Fawcett H, Braithwaite EC. Investigating the impact of breastfeeding difficulties on maternal mental health. Sci Rep. 2025 Apr 19;15(1):13572.

Yuen M, Hall OJ, Masters GA, Nephew BC, Carr C, Leung K, Griffen A, McIntyre L, Byatt N, Moore Simas TA. The Effects of Breastfeeding on Maternal Mental Health: A Systematic Review. J Womens Health (Larchmt). 2022 Jun; 31(6): 787-807.