(22-01-2012, 04:09 PM)Isabelle Wrote: Hi lled,
I had to think about this, but my conclusion is that the situation we are trying to create is not like breastfeeding, in two ways:
1. The baby grows and wants more and more, while the milk supply is drying up. By the time the baby is weaned, it may be too late for the breasts: the swelling is totally deflated. In NBE, the milk is reabsorbed, but the water remains in the lymph system, and I assume the fat is deposited locally. I never read this anywhere, but the practical result of this hypothesis is easy to check: if it's true, skin brushing should work well with goat's rue.
2. Women who are breastfeeding lose a lot of weight after the pregnancy too.
I don't really know what happens to the milk after breastfeeding is stopped, but from what I've read, there is also engorgement, like Anastasia experienced, and even mastitis: Mel wrote about that. So I'd say the breasts of a woman who stops breastfeeding don't give up just like that. I hope there are good ways to wean a baby while switching from feeding to noogling or massage, goat's rue, or another form of NBE. Maybe Anastasia knows.
I knew I had read something about this mechanism somewhere, but its taken me awhile to find it...and it turned out to be good old Wikepedia!
During pregnancy, high circulating concentrations of estrogen and progesterone inhibit the action of prolactin on milk production. Following delivery, reduced estrogen and progesterone production allows prolactin to induce lactation.
So no point in us increasing both prolactin AND progesterone
After childbirth, prolactin levels fall as the internal stimulus for them is removed. Sucking by the baby on the nipple then promotes further prolactin release, maintaining the ability to lactate. The sucking activates mechanoreceptors in and around the nipple. These signals are carried by nerve fibers through the spinal cord to the hypothalamus, where changes in the electrical activity of neurons that regulate the pituitary gland cause increased prolactin secretion. The suckling stimulus also triggers the release of oxytocin from the posterior pituitary gland, which triggers milk let-down: Prolactin controls milk production (lactogenesis) but not the milk-ejection reflex; the rise in prolactin fills the breast with milk in preparation for the next feed.
In usual circumstances, in the absence of galactorrhea, lactation will cease within one or two weeks of the end of demand breastfeeding.
It has also been found that compared to un-mated males, fathers and expectant fathers have increased prolactin concentrations.[13]
Hmm... so we need to get our wives/girlfriends preggers then??
High prolactin levels also tend to suppress the ovulatory cycle by inhibiting the secretion of both follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) and gonadotropic-releasing hormone (GnRH). High prolactin levels can also contribute to mental health issues.
Prolactin levels peak during REM sleep, and in the early morning. Levels can rise after exercise, meals, sexual intercourse, minor surgical procedures,[14] or following epileptic seizures.[15]