Skin-to-skin contact and oxytocin Skin-to-skin contact Oxytocin - the 'love hormone' Back to the Getting ready page Skin-to-skin contact Pregnant mothers can talk to their Lead Maternity Carer (LMC) midwife about their birth and breastfeeding plans and skin-to-skin contact with their baby immediately after she/he is born. Skin-to-skin contact with a well baby is a wonderful way to recover from birth for a mother and baby, a way to start intimately connecting to a baby and a great boost to breastfeeding beginnings. Mother-baby skin-to-skin contact is described as placing a naked baby prone on the mother’s bare chest and then covering the baby with a warm, dry blanket or towel. See also: More information about skin-to-skin contact on the BreastfeedingOnline.com website. Back to top Oxytocin - the 'love hormone' When a baby is in skin-to-skin contact with her/his mother after birth a very special hormone is secreted from the mother’s pituitary gland called oxytocin. Oxytocin has been described as the ‘love hormone’ and it is secreted when falling in love with another adult, or a baby, and it makes mothers feel relaxed, contented and less anxious. Mothers who breastfeed experience surges of oxytocin every time they breastfeed their babies. Skin-to-skin contact helps this hormone start and keep working. Oxytocin also makes the cells that are wrapped around the milk making glands in breasts contract, which starts breastmilk flowing. A baby sucking at the breast triggers milk let downs during breastfeeds and at the same time a mother's uterus contracts to help it get back into shape faster. A respected anthropologist and researcher called Niles Newton wrote about the importance of the hormone oxytocin for humans as early as the 1970s. Newton explains that oxytocin pulses occur with orgasm (in women and men), with birth, and with breastfeeding and all of these events trigger bonding, love and caring behaviours. Back to top Back to the Getting ready page Website feedback We welcome your feedback on this page.

Where to get help Midwives Healthline - 0800 611 116 Well Child La Leche League More information on these and other breastfeeding help providers...

Page last reviewed: 24 September 2009