This study of 396 Australian and New Zealand mothers found that a history of breastfeeding difficulties, negative subjective experience of delivery, poorer psychological flexibility and lower self-compassion all correlated with poorer emotional availability.  The authors recommend employing these risk factors to identify dyads at greater emotional risk and offering interventions targeted at addressing psychological flexibility and self-compassion to mitigate this risk.

Whittingham, K., & Mitchell, A. E. (2021). Birth, breastfeeding, psychological flexibility and self‐compassion as predictors of mother–infant emotional availability in a cross‐sectional study. Infant Mental Health Journal, 42(5), 718-730.

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/imhj.21935?campaign=woletoc