Birth hormones are chemical “messengers” that your body makes. Your baby makes birth hormones, too. These hormones work together to guide important changes in your bodies — changes that help make labor and birth go smoothly and safely for both of you.
Birth hormones help guide you and your baby in many ways, including :
- Getting your body ready to give birth
- Starting your labor contractions
- Preparing your baby for labor and life outside your body
- Telling your breasts to make milk and getting your baby ready to breastfeed
- And when you and your new baby fall in love, birth hormones are part of those feelings, too
Here we discuss four hormones that are important for reproduction: oxytocin, endorphins, adrenaline and related stress hormones, and prolactin. These hormones play a major role in regulating labor and birth. Learning about them can help you understand what will happen during labor and birth. Decisions you make about your care can support or disrupt the way hormones work, so understanding how they work and how they are affected is important for making informed decisions.
# Oxytocin : Oxytocin is often known as the "hormone of love" because it is involved with lovemaking, fertility, contractions during labor and birth and the release of milk in breastfeeding. It helps us feel good, and it triggers nurturing feelings and behaviors.
Receptor cells that allow your body to respond to oxytocin increase gradually in pregnancy and then increase a lot during labor. Oxytocin stimulates powerful contractions that help to thin and open (dilate) the cervix, move the baby down and out of the birth canal, push out the placenta, and limit bleeding at the site of the placenta. During labor and birth, the pressure of the baby against your cervix, and then against tissues in the pelvic floor, stimulates oxytocin and contractions. So does a breastfeeding newborn.
Low levels of oxytocin during labor and birth can cause problems by :
- Causing contractions to stop or slow, and making labor take longer.
- Resulting in excessive bleeding at the placenta site after birth.
- Leading health care providers to respond to these problems with interventions.
You can promote your body's production of oxytocin during labor and birth by:
- Staying calm, comfortable and confident.
- Avoiding disturbances, such as unwelcome people or noise and uncomfortable procedures.
- Staying upright and using gravity so your baby is pressed against your cervix and then, as the baby is born, against the tissues of your pelvic floor.
- Stimulating your nipples or clitoris before birth, and giving your baby a chance to suckle (breastfeed) shortly after birth.
Avoiding epidural analgesia.
# Prolactin : Prolactin is known as the “mothering” hormone. The role of prolactin around the time of birth has been less researched than the hormones described above. It increases during pregnancy and peaks when labor starts on its own. As has been shown in other mammals, continued prolactin production during and after labor appears to be readying a woman’s body for breastfeeding. It may also play a role in moving labor along and helping the newborn adjust to life outside the womb. Prolactin is central to breast milk production. High levels of prolactin with early breastfeeding may foster women’s caretaking behaviors and adjustment to being a mother. This hormone may also support the infant’s healthy development.
Low levels of prolactin may cause problems through :
- Poorer transition of the baby at the time of birth.
- Poorer growth and development of the baby.
- Poorer adjustment of a woman to motherhood.
You can likely promote your body’s production of prolactin by:
- Waiting for labor to start on its own.
- Minimizing stress during labor and after birth.
- Keeping woman and baby together after birth.
- Breastfeeding early and thereafter on cue from the baby.
# Maximizing the Role of Birth Hormones
As you can probably tell from the information above, some features of typical hospital childbirth settings, like noise or medical interventions, can interfere with your body’s natural processes. To avoid this and maximize your body’s ability to follow its natural processes, it’s a good idea to seek out a birth setting that supports this. Out-of-hospital birth settings and one-on-one continuous labor support, such as doula care, can help create conditions that enhance your body’s natural production of helpful hormones and keep disturbing hormones in check.
Birth hormones are chemical “messengers” that your body makes. Your baby makes birth hormones, too. These hormones work together to guide important changes in your bodies — changes that help make labor and birth go smoothly and safely for both of you.
Birth hormones help guide you and your baby in many ways, including :
- Getting your body ready to give birth
- Starting your labor contractions
- Preparing your baby for labor and life outside your body
- Telling your breasts to make milk and getting your baby ready to breastfeed
- And when you and your new baby fall in love, birth hormones are part of those feelings, too
Here we discuss four hormones that are important for reproduction: oxytocin, endorphins, adrenaline and related stress hormones, and prolactin. These hormones play a major role in regulating labor and birth. Learning about them can help you understand what will happen during labor and birth. Decisions you make about your care can support or disrupt the way hormones work, so understanding how they work and how they are affected is important for making informed decisions.
# Oxytocin : Oxytocin is often known as the "hormone of love" because it is involved with lovemaking, fertility, contractions during labor and birth and the release of milk in breastfeeding. It helps us feel good, and it triggers nurturing feelings and behaviors.
Receptor cells that allow your body to respond to oxytocin increase gradually in pregnancy and then increase a lot during labor. Oxytocin stimulates powerful contractions that help to thin and open (dilate) the cervix, move the baby down and out of the birth canal, push out the placenta, and limit bleeding at the site of the placenta. During labor and birth, the pressure of the baby against your cervix, and then against tissues in the pelvic floor, stimulates oxytocin and contractions. So does a breastfeeding newborn.
Low levels of oxytocin during labor and birth can cause problems by :
- Causing contractions to stop or slow, and making labor take longer.
- Resulting in excessive bleeding at the placenta site after birth.
- Leading health care providers to respond to these problems with interventions.
You can promote your body's production of oxytocin during labor and birth by:
- Staying calm, comfortable and confident.
- Avoiding disturbances, such as unwelcome people or noise and uncomfortable procedures.
- Staying upright and using gravity so your baby is pressed against your cervix and then, as the baby is born, against the tissues of your pelvic floor.
- Stimulating your nipples or clitoris before birth, and giving your baby a chance to suckle (breastfeed) shortly after birth.
Avoiding epidural analgesia.
# Prolactin : Prolactin is known as the “mothering” hormone. The role of prolactin around the time of birth has been less researched than the hormones described above. It increases during pregnancy and peaks when labor starts on its own. As has been shown in other mammals, continued prolactin production during and after labor appears to be readying a woman’s body for breastfeeding. It may also play a role in moving labor along and helping the newborn adjust to life outside the womb. Prolactin is central to breast milk production. High levels of prolactin with early breastfeeding may foster women’s caretaking behaviors and adjustment to being a mother. This hormone may also support the infant’s healthy development.
Low levels of prolactin may cause problems through :
- Poorer transition of the baby at the time of birth.
- Poorer growth and development of the baby.
- Poorer adjustment of a woman to motherhood.
You can likely promote your body’s production of prolactin by:
- Waiting for labor to start on its own.
- Minimizing stress during labor and after birth.
- Keeping woman and baby together after birth.
- Breastfeeding early and thereafter on cue from the baby.
# Maximizing the Role of Birth Hormones
As you can probably tell from the information above, some features of typical hospital childbirth settings, like noise or medical interventions, can interfere with your body’s natural processes. To avoid this and maximize your body’s ability to follow its natural processes, it’s a good idea to seek out a birth setting that supports this. Out-of-hospital birth settings and one-on-one continuous labor support, such as doula care, can help create conditions that enhance your body’s natural production of helpful hormones and keep disturbing hormones in check.