>My unscientific sense of it is that my body is releasing the oxytocin
>regularly, and that the secretion of what Dr. Michel Odent has called
>"the hormone of love" actually *causes* me to feel love.  And of course
>to experience an MER.

Penny,
I think that you are right on.  Studies of the effects of oxytocin on
virgin rats showed that it induces maternal behavior in them. Take that,
the fact that oxytocin release is controlled by the hypothalamus, which
also deals with emotions, and you have amazing evidence for how emotions
and love and bonding and breastfeeding are all intertwined. And to think
that some people think that they can duplicate this experience with
artificial milk!

-Lisa Marasco, BA, IBCLC