Impact of a multiple, IVF birth on post-partum mental health: a composite analysis

Abstract

Mothers of multiples are at increased risk of poorer emotional well-being. Clinicians should focus on the psychological benefits of a singleton birth.

Families with twins - a systematic review

“…Sheard, Cox, Oates, Ndukwe Glazebrook (2007) United Kingdom. 31 Objective: to explore the impact of the birth of multiples via IVF on the mental health of the mother. Participants: primiparous women who conceived via IVF: 1 -one child per conception (n=119), 2 -twins (n=49), 3 -triplets (n=7).…”

“…28,30 With respect to parental subsystems, mothers of twins had the perception that their children had more difficult tempers, 33 which increased maternal emotional vulnerabilty. 31 However, personal well-being and support of spouses, noticed by women in the last trimester of twin pregnancies, was a predictor of less parental stress experienced by them, one year after birth. 23 Therefore, according to the studies included in this review, twinning can bring to family subsystems multiple vulnerabilities and difficulties in daily management, with work overload in repetitive execution of family routines and, consequently, fewer hours of sleep; some of these stress factors were identified in families of twins.…”

“…28 Mothers of twins more frequently reported difficult experiences, 28,31 questioning of parenthood and experiencing doubts. 31 They felt tired, reporting that their expectations regarding motherhood were different from the reality, and now it was a job that was harder and with more difficulties than they had thought. As a consequence, they experienced stress and/or depression, reporting also less feelings of pleasure with twins and less desire to have more children than other mothers.…”

“…The objectives of the studies under analysis were to identify variables that influenced the quality of life of parents, 24 focusing in particular on mental health, 29,31,[35][36] psychosocial well-being 26,30 and parental stress. 23,26,37,[40][41] They also covered marital adaptation, 29,32-33 parental adjustment 25,32 and behavior 25 and development of children, 28,30 seeking to identify the determining factors of this process 23,[27][28][29][30][33][34][37][38]40 and using twinning parenthood as a reference.…”

“…From the comparative analyses used in some of the research, we considered the difference between groups, taking into account: different types of conception, [25][26]32,[36][37] number of births per pregnancy [26][27][28][30][31][32][33][35][36]38,41 and gestation period. 29,38 …”