Postnatal depression and faltering growth: a community study.

Objective: To investigate the association between faltering growth in children and maternal postnatal depression.

Methods: Children aged < or =2 years were identified from community child health surveillance records if their weights fell across 2 centile channels on standardized growth charts or fell below the second centile. Mothers of these index children were invited to complete the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale and the anxiety subscale of the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale.