Breastfeeding, an anchor in hope

In this reduced lockdown space, where exalted emotions cry like wounds – both from adults and from children – few things grant us fresh air. Breastfeeding is more than ever a restful place, a shared caress, an interior paradise, a fountain of hope for life, that life which we will dive back into some day.…

Oxytocin vs Coronavirus

by Ibone Olza, perinatal psychiatrist Cooperate or compete. Trust or fear. Share or fight. Accompany or isolate. In the end, there are only two states: love or fear, and one is the absence of the other. The more love, less fear. The more fear, less love (in the words of Abuela Margarita).   Hard choices,…

Kangaroo care in term infants favors neurodevelopment and emotional regulation

As the world prioritizes physical distance to detain or slow down the spread of coronavirus (COVID-19), a new study from Florida Atlantic University shows that physical contact between mother and infant is essential for optimal neurological development, maturation and regulation during infancy.   Mother-infant dyads show high oxytocin levels and are less impacted by stress, which…

Obstretrician ´s epiphany

  Obstetricians…   Two of the mothers I visited today at the breastfeeding clinic recounted their birth stories to me. Though both had been similar in the workings (hospital births, vaginal, no epidural, some synthetic oxytocin), each mother had a completely different story to tell. For one, it had been a wonderful, empowering experience. For…

Postpartum depression and the role of oxytocin receptors

A recent study from the University of Louisiana (summarized below) has discovered that some mothers with postpartum depression have an “altered expression of oxytocin receptors”. Oxytocin is the hormone of love, human connection and wellbeing; it is produced at high levels during birth and breastfeeding and it is intimately involved in the mother-infant bond, as…

Impact of epidural on bonding

In many women’s minds, birth and epidural go together. But how many of us are conscious of the impact of this routine intervention on birth and the days that follow? According to Dr Sarah Buckley, author of Gentle Birth, Gentle Mothering, its effects can significantly alter birth progression and have an impact on the woman´s…