When we breastfeed, we embrace our womanhood and the way that God so intricately and wondrously designed our bodies. We are also blessed with many blessings. Here are some of the blessings we receive when we nourish a baby at our breast.

1.       PROLACTIN.

When a mother is nursing her baby, the hormone, prolactin, is operating. This is a very strong 'love hormone' which bonds the mother to her baby. Animal studies with this hormone are most interesting. When it is injected into a rooster, it will make the rooster become clucky and mother chickens!

How about that? A female animal that is nursing her young in the wild will fight to death any intruder upon her young, whereas after weaning, she does not show this protection.

The mother who is nursing her baby is bound to her baby. She finds it hard to leave her baby with a baby-sitter. This is God's plan. He does not intend for mothers to leave their babies after a few months to pursue their career. They already have a more important career. Breastfeeding ties them to one another.

2.       OXYTOCIN.

This hormone, which is released by the pituitary gland, is the hormone that stimulates the mother's letdown or milk-ejection reflex (the tingly sensation you feel when the milk lets down). This is a wonderful hormone that has a calming affect upon the mother. Every time the milk 'lets down' she experiences a feeling of relaxation and calm and sometimes sleepiness comes over her.

God is good. When we do things His way, we get His benefits. He knows that mothers need this calming hormone and He has graciously provided it for us.

I am not a calm person by nature, but after nursing my babies for many years, the continual release of oxytocin had a major calming affect upon my whole personality. The more children I had, the more I noticed it.  Many mothers notice an increase in tension after weaning their babies.

My daughter, who is very similar to me, is now nursing her baby and we see this calming effect upon her. My other daughters look on and say, "Mother, that 'relaxin' (as they have nicknamed the hormone) sure works, doesn't it?" 

A dear young mother who I know very well had just given birth to her third baby when her husband had an accident with very serious head injuries. They didn't think he would live through the night, but with prayer he did. The doctors then said that if he lived he would be a vegetable. It was a traumatic time for this young wife.

Well-wishing friends advised her to wean her baby because it would be too much for her to cope with, especially as she had to drive an hour and a half to the city each day to visit her husband. But her wise mother encouraged her to continue nursing. Every day she went to the hospital, taking her baby with her, and continued to nurse her through the long difficult months. It turned out to be her greatest blessing. The hormone oxytocin helped to keep her calm through all this time.

By the way, I should tell you the end of the story. Because of the prayers of God's people across the world, this husband, who they said would be a vegetable, is alive today and doing well - and they have since had two more children.

A study cited by Dr. Niles Newton, Professor of Behavioral Sciences at Northwestern University of Chicago says "mothers who were exclusively breastfeeding their infants had higher levels of oxytocin during feedings than mothers who were breastfeeding and giving formula supplements."

Randee Romano writes about a study, which "indicates that the secretion of oxytocin is a conditioned response, meaning that a mother's body may produce oxytocin in response to familiar sights, sounds, or activities, not just from the direct stimulation of breastfeeding.

In a small sample of nursing mothers, all showed an increase in oxytocin before the baby was put to breast. This will not surprise mothers who feel their milk let down when their babies cry. In fact, half of the women in the study experienced this. An increase in oxytocin levels was also measured in 30 percent of the mothers when their babies became restless and in 20 percent of the women as they were preparing to nurse."

Oxytocin is known as the "hormone of love". Dr. Niles Newton says, "Oxytocin also triggers nurturing behaviour.... Both men and women release oxytocin with orgasm. Married couples, after lovemaking, and nursing mothers, after breastfeeding, all reported lower levels of anxiety and depression than a group of mothers surveyed after a bottle-feeding. Even eating triggers oxytocin release, which is another reason to share family mealtimes."