Hypnobreastfeeding, nutritional status, and postpartum depressive symptoms among breastfeeding mothers

Fatmawati Fatmawati* -  Departement of Midwifery, Faculty of Medicine, Universitas Brawijaya, Malang, Indonesia
Najiha Ikmala Maulidiyah -  Departement of Midwifery, Faculty of Medicine, Universitas Brawijaya, Malang, Indonesia
DOI : 10.30867/action.v11i3.3416

Postpartum depressive symptoms can impair maternal functioning, breastfeeding, and infant care. This study aimed to compare post-intervention Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS) scores between mothers who did and did not participate in hypnobreastfeeding, explore adherence-defined subgroups, and describe maternal nutritional status. A non-randomized post-test-only quasi-experimental study was conducted at TPMB Tri Widyawati, East Java, Indonesia, from October to December 2025. Sixty-eight breastfeeding mothers with infants aged 0–6 months were recruited by purposive sampling; allocation to the control (n = 34) or intervention (n = 34) group depended on willingness to participate. After a two-week regimen, the intervention participants were classified as routine (n = 19) or nonroutine (n = 15) practitioners. The EPDS was measured only after the intervention. The unadjusted Kruskal–Wallis test showed different EPDS score distributions across the three groups (H = 39.505, df = 2, p < 0.001). Bonferroni-adjusted pairwise comparisons differed between each adherence subgroup and control (both p < 0.001), but not between routine and nonroutine subgroups (p = 0.484). Participant characteristics and post-intervention BMI also differed between the groups. These preliminary associations do not establish causality because the allocation was nonrandom, pre-intervention EPDS was unavailable, and analyses were not adjusted for confounding factors.

Keywords : Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale, hypnobreastfeeding adherence, maternal nutritional status, postpartum depressive symptoms

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Open Access Copyright (c) 2026 Fatmawati, Najiha Ikmala Maulidiyah
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