Mother's experience more stress when they can't afford diapers than food insecurity.
A parent's stress levels can negatively affect their children, a PR Newswire press release reported.
"Parental stress and depression can negatively impact children," Dr. Megan Smith, Assistant Professor at the Yale School of Medicine and first author of the study, said. "Many women who had trouble obtaining diapers also reported significant mental distress. Health care providers should recognize diapering difficulties as a serious issue and possibly an indicator of mental health need."
The study surveyed 877 low-income women. Thirty percent of them said they didn't have the money to change their baby's diaper as often as they wished.
Women who weren't able to purchase and adequate amount of diapers reported higher levels of stress and depression, and had more trouble coping with trauma.
"A mother's number-one priority is meeting her children's basic needs. Diapers are a basic need, akin to food and housing. But unlike those other things, there are no public programs parents can turn to for help," senior author Joanne Goldblum, MSW, executive director of the National Diaper Bank Network (NDBN), said.
Food stamps can't be used to purchase diapers, so the NDBN works to provide them to low-income families.
Jessica Aragon, a single working mother went to extreme measures to buy her baby diapers, NBC reported.
"For other needs, like food, you could go to a food bank," Aragon, said. "But there was no help for things like diapers. I had to borrow money and sell everything I had -- the DVD player, the TV - to get money for diapers."
Grandmothers raising children and Hispanic women were the most likely to have trouble buying diapers, PR newswire reported.
"We knew that diaper need harms babies, who are prone to rashes or more serious infections when not changed frequently enough," Alison Weir, PhD, JD, a co-author of the study, said. "Our research raises concerns about the long-term impact. When parents have high levels of stress or depression, children are at greater risk for social, emotional and behavioral problems. That has far-reaching effects on a child's development and success in school."
Besides the mental health concerns, a shortage of diapers can cause health problems in children as well, NBC reported.
"Some [parents] were taking off their kids' diapers and scraping off the contents and then putting them back on the child," Dr. Gary Smith, director of the Center for Injury Research and Policy at Nationwide Children's Hospital, said. "While that has an incredible impact on the health of the child in terms of urinary tract infections and rashes, it also impacts the self-esteem of the mom."
The study was conducted by the New Haven Mental health Outreach for MotherS (MOMS) Partnership, a partner between Yale University and several state agencies, PR Newswire reported.
