To understand this better, I recommend checking out the work of researcher Kirsten Uvnas-Moberg. She has an amazing body of work on this subject, including her book, The Oxytocin Factor: Tapping the Hormone of Calm, Love, and Healing. Your post motivated me to order a used copy from amazon.com, which cost only a few dollars US.
My co-author, Kathy Kendall-Tackett and I wrote about her work in our book Breastfeeding Made Simple: Seven Natural Laws for Nursing Mothers. Here's one of her articles that you might find of interest:
Uvnäs-Moberg, K., et al. 1987. Release of GI hormones in mothers and
infants by sensory stimulation. /Acta Paediatrica Scandanavia /76:851-860.
Nancy Mohrbacher, IBCLC
Happy to be inside on a gray and chilly day in the Chicago suburbs
I have a student who is asking me about the mechanism of benefit for
skin-to-skin. I have a feeling that increased oxytocin levels in both
mom and baby are responsible for a lot of the physiological
stabilization, as well as the increase in feeding behaviors and maternal
behavior. However, I can't come up with 1) a mechanism for how this
would work in things like heart rate and breathing, and 2) evidence for
the fact that oxytocin is increased by skin contact (without necessarily
breastfeeding). I know that it must be, but if anyone has evidence for
this, or a reference, I would greatly appreciate it. I imagine the
effects on physiological stabilization must be through the mechanism of
inhibition of stress responses (cortisol) and the sympathetic nervous
system, but I'm missing a real link to skin-to-skin and also lacking
clarity on mechanisms involved.
Thanks for any help to this incorrigible physiology geek!
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