Leslie wrote: < the author has no credentials listed, so to me it would be suspect. But of course, the average reader is not going to notice things like I have just mentioned, they are going to see, "What we didn't know was that the hormone prolactin, which triggers milk production, also curbs the urge to merge." > Oh, come on, now! Please educate me! Is that supposed to be a fact about a direct effect of prolactin? Or was this a side effect of suppression of ovulation? Or was that just how she phrased her experience? Strange. I sure don't recall this as a problem! I thought that by 7 months, prolactin levels were supposed to be way back down anyway! Because of the timing, maybe ovulation was about due to begin again soon anyway due to this reduction! As I remember it, ovulation itself, used to be the stimulus for a week or more of the extra heightened interest in the"urge to merge". Maybe that's coincidentally why her feelings changed! Leslie also notes : <appears to be her first baby. Believe me, we all know that makes a difference. Everything is so new and strange, plus we face hormones that we never knew existed and we are more 'likely' to completely and to the letter follow whatever our HCP told us to do, since we don't know anything about the territory we've just entered.> Like some degree of sleep deprivation, fatigue, role adjustment, etc., etc.? And I'm confused about the fact that in years past, prolactin was touted as the hormone that caused the pleasure that brought about mothering behavior and bonding. (I remember a big article in "Life" magazine about the nurturing behavior of a policeman with a pituitary tumor, and male laboratory animals building nests and cuddling the young after prolactin injections.) Somewhere along the line, I fell "out of the loop." Now, I keep hearing it's oxytocin that seems to bring all the bonding emotions. She didn't even mention oxytocin's effect on her "merging"! I can understand a connection between pleasure and oxytocin, but when did that pleasure claim get removed from prolactin? I specifically remember my term for the pleasure was "a feeling of adoration". The feeling began a short time after nipple stim and as I remember it, had nothing to do with either MER or orgasm. Maybe Dad wasn't necessarily selfish. I doubt he knew much about the benefits, etc. and all her hormonal effects, given what she knows! I hope a lot of you DO write RD! Jean _________________________ K. Jean Cotterman RNC, IBCLC Dayton, Ohio . ___________________________________________________________________ Get the Internet just the way you want it. Free software, free e-mail, and free Internet access for a month! Try Juno Web: http://dl.www.juno.com/dynoget/tagj. *********************************************** The LACTNET mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned LISTSERV(R) list management software together with L-Soft's LSMTP(TM) mailer for lightning fast mail delivery. For more information, go to: http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html