In terms of babies and bonding, once the nursing relationship is established for a new mother her brain floods her body with bonding hormones when she nurses. This encourages the mother to nurse her baby as it is relaxing and pleasurable. By having a new mother nurse as a newborn baby requires (many times a day & night) she and the baby gaze at each other and caress each other all of which help bond them together and ensure the baby’s survival. To nurse comfortably a mother holds her baby very close and the skin-to-skin contact with her baby also triggers relaxing and bonding hormones in both mother and baby. To thrive babies need to be touched, held and caressed all of which is engendered by nursing. A mothers milk is a living substance (like blood) if put under a microscope the white cells and other living particles can be clearly seen. It therefore contains all the essentials for a baby’s brain and body development, with the release of bonding hormones the mother is more likely to continue nursing and giving her baby optimal nutrition.
"Lactation refers to the physiological process of producing milk and its removal by an infant. Women produce breast milk as a response to the baby’s suckling in an efficient system of supply and demand. Two hormones, prolactin and oxytocin, play important roles in this process. Prolactin is essential for both the initiation and the maintenance of milk production, while oxytocin stimulates milk ejection. Both hormones play complementary roles in breast-feeding, helping the mother relax and easing the infant into sleep. Oxytocin is particularly intriguing because it controls milk letdown, which can be affected by fear, pain, stress, and anxiety. The oxytocin reflex is more complex than the prolactin reflex. The mother’s thoughts and fears may hinder the letdown reflex, and thinking about her baby may trigger the production of oxytocin and milk ejection.
Colostrum, the first milk mothers produce after giving birth, meets all the nutritional needs of the newborn. It has strong antiviral properties, strengthens the newborn’s immune system, and acts as a laxative to remove meconium (first feces) from the digestive tract. It is thicker and richer in minerals and protein than mature milk. Colostrum is particularly rich in vitamins E and A. Infants usually consume only a small amount of this first milk. Within one or two days colostrum becomes transitional milk, and the supply increases greatly. The rate at which colostrum changes to mature milk varies from woman to woman, however, mature milk is present within two weeks.
Human milk is a living substance, changing constantly and adapting to meet the changing needs of the infant. For example, it changes from the beginning to the end of a feed. The fore milk has more protein, vitamins, minerals, and water and the hind milk has more fat to signal the end of the feed. Human milk has the highest fat content in the morning and the least at night. It even changes by season, age of the infant, and according to the baby’s demand. Human milk reflects the environment, the diet, and the germs of the mother. Ultimately the infant determines the composition of the feed in an interactive process. Although breast pumps are available to many women in urban settings, a breast-feeding infant is the most efficient remover of human milk.
Breast milk is a living substance. It contains living white blood cells that fight infection. Maternal antibodies are passed to the fetus through the placenta before birth and through breast milk after birth, providing temporary immunological protection for newborns. Milk proteins, such as lactoferrin, play an important immunological role, as do enzymes, immunoglobulins, and leukocytes. Human milk is clean and free of bacteria. Unlike artificial milk substitutes, human milk contains nonnutrient substances with the capacity to enhance immunity and destroy pathogens. Human milk has antibacterial, antifungal, and anti-infective properties that have been recognized for centuries. For example, expressed human milk has been used as a folk remedy for conjunctivitis. The protective effect of human milk is strongest for gastroenteritis and respiratory infections. However, the beneficial and protective effects of human milk include lowering the risk of allergies, multiple sclerosis, Crohn’s disease, and sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS)."
From: Riordan, Jan, and Kathleen G. Auerbach, eds. Breastfeeding and Human Lactation. Boston: Jones and Bartlett, 1993.
my husband thanks you, too.