Mothering Hormone
It’s a normal physiological response to lactation hormones. Breastfeeding feels good! If it didn’t, very few mothers would do it. It might help to understand just what hormonal responses are taking place.
As your baby nurses, prolactin — known as the “mothering hormone” — stimulates the body to manufacture milk. This hormone gives you a feeling of relaxation and well-being. Oxytocin, another hormone secreted during breastfeeding, causes the alveoli to contract, releasing milk into the ducts, the milk sinuses, and your baby’s mouth. This hormone is responsible for the tingling sensation some mothers feel before a milk ejection reflex, or letdown, and the postpartum uterine cramping felt while breastfeeding.
Oxytocin also causes labor contractions during childbirth and pleasure contractions during orgasm. Varying amounts of oxytocin are attributed to these different contractions. The arousal you describe while nursing may also be the result of the empowerment and satisfaction you feel knowing that you are meeting all of your daughter’s nutritional and emotional needs at the breast.
