Hi Sarah

Some very wise words I heard = "The only stupid question is the one not 
asked". :-)

I think it's great when people ask questions like this as it makes everyone 
think carefully about the answers and even go and look something up to 
refresh our knowledge - just like I did.

I knew for sure that prolactin is the hormone initially related to milk 
"production" and oxytocin related the  "milk ejection reflex". I also 
thought I remembered that oxytocin when given in it's synthetic form must be 
given intravenously or nasally but couldn't recall why. So I looked it up - 
Wikipedia is great for this sort of stuff for a quick search. 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oxytocin It says oxytocin hormone is destroyed 
in the gastrointestinal tract - light bulbs go off!!! for me....it refreshed 
my memory. And the half life is stated to be about 3 minutes, but this looks 
like it's relating to the synthetic ones. Nothing listed for the naturally 
produced oxytocin in the human body. And oxytocin is a hormone ie protein, 
so will be destroyed by the usual pasteurisation process for cow's milk.  So 
cow's milk will not contain any oxytocin by the time it reaches a mother's 
stomach - first because of half life, second likely destruction by 
pasteurisation. Even if it did, the digestive process would denature the 
protein anyway.

I recall hearing many many years ago now, Professor Peter Hartmann joke with 
the medical students here in Perth about measuring these 
hormones........one of these students stated we should be able to measure 
the amount of oxytocin in a mother's milk so we could work out if a mother 
was having a letdown ie if it was "working" ........Peter said, with his 
lovely humour (I really think he enjoys this part of lecturing!) first of 
all the mother would instantly stop releasing the hormones as soon as 
someone came near her with a needle to draw blood and secondly the half life 
was so short that the measures would never be accurate. I'm sure those 
students remembered lots he explained in this way.

cheers
Del
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~**~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~**~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Del Smith, IBCLC.
Dip. Teach, Bach. Ed (Secondary).
Certificate IV Breastfeeding Education (Counselling and Community)
Married to Kevin and Mum to two gorgeous boys Courtney '96 and Dylan '99
08 9414 5368
0413 383 073
[log in to unmask]
[log in to unmask]

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Sarah McCann" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Tuesday, April 07, 2009 7:17 PM
Subject: may be a stupid question on oxytocin


Hi all,

Ok I want to ask what may be a stupid question if you have known the answer 
for years.  I have looked up my books recently.  I do have Kristin Uvnas 
Moberg's book the Oxytocin factor but I have not read much of it yet.  In it 
she seems to say that bovine oxytocin is much the same as human oxytocin. 
So question is - Does oxytocin pass into cow's milk from the cow?  If this 
is the case then can cow's milk increase a mum's milk supply? And if this is 
the case then surely reducing cow's milk in a mother's diet could reduce her 
perceived oversupply and be one reason why reducing cow's milk in a mum's 
diet can help symptom's of colic.



It is just that I want to know can cow's milk have an effect on mum's milk 
supply other than via mum's leaky gut.  I know I asked about growth hormones 
around Christmas time but that helped me think it through more and I wonder 
can organic cow's milk have an effect other than if mum is 
allergic/struggles to digest cow's milk.  I have also just ordered 'Baby 
matters - what your Dr may not tell you about caring for your baby' by Dr LF 
Palmer.  Trouble is I want to know more and I have lots of books but not 
enough time to read them.



Thanks for taking the trouble to read this.

Best wishes,

Sarah McCann.

_________________________________________________________________
View your Twitter and Flickr updates from one place – Learn more!
http://clk.atdmt.com/UKM/go/137984870/direct/01/
             ***********************************************

Archives: http://community.lsoft.com/archives/LACTNET.html
To reach list owners: [log in to unmask]
Mail all list management commands to: [log in to unmask]
COMMANDS:
1. To temporarily stop your subscription write in the body of an email: set 
lactnet nomail
2. To start it again: set lactnet mail
3. To unsubscribe: unsubscribe lactnet
4. To get a comprehensive list of rules and directions: get lactnet welcome

             ***********************************************

Archives: http://community.lsoft.com/archives/LACTNET.html
To reach list owners: [log in to unmask]
Mail all list management commands to: [log in to unmask]
COMMANDS:
1. To temporarily stop your subscription write in the body of an email: set lactnet nomail
2. To start it again: set lactnet mail
3. To unsubscribe: unsubscribe lactnet
4. To get a comprehensive list of rules and directions: get lactnet welcome