The Relationship of Childbirth Experience with Mother-Infant Bonding and Child's Growth and Development

The negative experience of childbirth has many consequences for the mother and the baby. This study analyzed the relationship of childbirth experience with mother-infant bonding and the child's growth and development.

In this cross-sectional study, the participants were 216 eligible women selected from all health centers in Zanjan City, Iran (36 health centers), using the census method. Data collection tools were as follows: childbirth experience questionnaire 2.0, postpartum bonding questionnaire, anthropometric indices checklist, and developmental age and stages questionnaire. The Pearson correlation test was used to determine the relationship of variables in univariate analysis, and a general linear model was used in the multivariate analysis.

The mean ± SD of the participants was 29.0 ± 5.7 years. Less than half of the studied women (40.3%) had a diploma, and most wanted pregnancy (94.9%). The mean ± SD scores of the childbirth experience and postpartum bondings were 2.6 ± 0.5 (score range: 1-4) and 6.6 ± 2.7 (score range: 0-125), respectively. Regarding child development, the highest mean score was in the domain of problem-solving (56.8 ± 5.7), and the lowest was in the domain of communication (50.1 ± 8.3). The results of the Pearson correlation test showed that the childbirth experience had a significant inverse correlation with the mother-infant bonding (r = -0.23, P = 0.001) and a significant direct correlation with fine motions (r = 0.18, P = 0.007). The results of the general linear model after adjusting the socio-demographic and obstetrics characteristics showed that the postpartum bonding score was lower in women with a more positive childbirth experience, which was also an indication of a better bonding (B= -2.92, 95% CI; -4.85 to -0.98, P = 0.003). Besides, the fine motor score was higher in women with a positive childbirth experience (B= 3.11, 95% CI: 0.733-5.487, P = 0.011).

Considering the correlation between the variables of childbirth experience and mother-infant bonding and child development in the domain of ​​fine motor, health providers must do their best to create positive childbirth experiences for the women to improve the mother-infant bonding and child development domains.