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


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