Credit score: RDNE Inventory venture from Pexels
The oxytocin system—which helps launch breast milk and strengthens the bond between mom and child—could also be affected throughout breastfeeding in moms experiencing postnatal melancholy, finds a brand new research by UCL researchers.
The brand new analysis, printed in Psychoneuroendocrinology, investigated the hyperlink between maternal temper and the oxytocin pathway throughout breastfeeding, in moms with and with out signs of postnatal melancholy.
Oxytocin is a hormone that’s launched in each the mind and physique. It performs a central position in childbirth and breastfeeding, and is concerned in social relationships, particularly intimacy, and the attachment course of throughout infancy.
In breastfeeding, oxytocin triggers the “let-down” reflex that releases the mom’s milk and is stimulated in each moms and their child by skin-to-skin contact.
Oxytocin launch additionally interacts with particular mind areas to cut back stress and stimulate reward related to this, facilitating mother-infant bonding and early toddler improvement.
Moms experiencing postnatal melancholy report elevated stress throughout breastfeeding and early weaning. Though the social context associated to a mom’s melancholy seemingly contributes to this, it has not been recognized whether or not the oxytocin system can also be affected.
Within the UK, postnatal melancholy impacts a couple of in each 10 girls inside a yr of giving beginning. Signs embody persistent low temper, feeling agitated or irritable, and hassle sleeping.
For the brand new research, 62 new moms aged between 23 and 44 years outdated, who had an toddler between three and 9 months outdated, had been every given a nasal spray previous to breastfeeding, containing both oxytocin or a placebo.
Breast milk samples had been collected throughout breastfeeding and analyzed for oxytocin. The workforce discovered that oxytocin ranges in breast milk weren’t affected by moms’ temper at baseline.
Nevertheless, whereas oxytocin was seen to extend within the breast milk of girls with out postnatal melancholy after utilizing a nasal spray containing the hormone, this impact was diminished in moms experiencing postnatal melancholy.
Lead writer, Dr. Kate Lindley Baron-Cohen (UCL Psychology & Language Sciences) stated, “Our findings indicate that the oxytocin system is affected by postnatal depression in new mothers in the context of breastfeeding. Since higher levels of oxytocin in mothers are associated with positive outcomes in a child’s social development and in their mental health, these results point to a possible pathway through which infants of mothers experiencing postnatal depression may be at greater risk of later mental health vulnerabilities.”
These findings point out a brand new path for analysis to additional discover how oxytocin is affected in postnatal melancholy, and what the best therapy could possibly be to assist moms who want to breastfeed however are experiencing challenges.
Extra data:
Kate Lindley Baron-Cohen et al, Intranasal oxytocin will increase breast milk oxytocin, however has a diminished impact in depressed moms: A randomized managed trial, Psychoneuroendocrinology (2025). DOI: 10.1016/j.psyneuen.2025.107374
Offered by
College Faculty London
Quotation:
Oxytocin system could also be affected throughout breastfeeding in moms with postnatal melancholy (2025, March 14)
retrieved 14 March 2025
from https://medicalxpress.com/information/2025-03-oxytocin-affected-breastfeeding-mothers-postnatal.html
This doc is topic to copyright. Other than any honest dealing for the aim of personal research or analysis, no
half could also be reproduced with out the written permission. The content material is offered for data functions solely.
