What happens during lactation?
You’ve seen it and most like likely experienced it several times already. You draw your child near your breast, they begin to nurse and take in your milk stopping when their stomach is full. But what happens behind the scenes? What happens during lactation?
First off milk production depends on the sucking action of your child. This stimulated nerve endings in your breast, specifically in your nipple, that causes the hypothalmus in your brain to kick the pituitary gland into action. The pituitary gland releases two hormones, prolactin and oxytocin.
Prolactin stimulates the breasts to begin producing milk. Oxycotin has several purposes, chiefly it triggers the release of milk supplies that are held with-in your breast. Secondarily, it is referred to as the “love hormone” as research has indicated that it helps a mother bond to their child more deeply and more quickly.
Once the hormones have started milk release and production for this feeding there is nothing inside you that happens. Your child fills their stomach and you wait for the next time they grow hungry and the process repeats.
That is a simplified version of what happens during lactation.
