What is it about?
This article presents two clinical cases of perinatal women with serious mental illness (SMI) who requested to breastfeed during inpatient psychiatric hospitalization. It outlines the clinical, ethical, logistical, and child-welfare considerations involved and proposes a relational-ethics framework to guide multidisciplinary decision-making in settings where mother–infant units are not available.
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Why is it important?
The management of breastfeeding in the context of acute psychiatric illness poses complex challenges. Limited specialized inpatient resources in the United States, concerns about infant safety, and high rates of custody involvement make these decisions particularly consequential. This article contributes an ethical structure to support clinicians in balancing maternal autonomy, infant wellbeing, and psychiatric stabilization.
Perspectives
This publication aligns closely with my interests in perinatal psychiatry and the ethical dimensions of care for vulnerable mother–infant dyads. It reinforces the need for structured, multidisciplinary approaches when treating perinatal patients with significant psychiatric illness and underscores the importance of expanding ethically informed, patient-centered practices in reproductive mental health.
Sitara Soundararajan
Brigham and Women's Hospital/Harvard Medical School
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Breastfeeding by patients with serious mental illness: An ethical approach, December 2023, Frontline Medical Communications, Inc.,
DOI: 10.12788/cp.0428.
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