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As your due date nears, your brain starts producing more and more oxytocin, a hormone that literally helps bring out the mother in you. Also known as the love hormone, oxytocin is responsible for maternal behavior like nuzzling and grooming in animals from rats to monkeys. For pregnant moms, its main job is to ease feelings of stress while fueling anticipation for the new arrival.

Oxytocin has attracted serious scientific interest in recent years. Animal studies suggest that it plays a huge role in all sorts of social behaviors, from raising babies to forming long-term relationships. Animals that don’t produce oxytocin ignore their offspring and find different mates every season. Species that do make the hormone tend to be doting parents that form lasting bonds with their mates. So when your body starts pumping out oxytocin during pregnancy, it’s as if love is coursing through your veins.

Your baby is also developing a bond with you, even in the womb. Studies show that his heart will beat a little faster at the sound of your voice. It’s something that will excite and comfort your child now and for years to come.

If you’re a dad, the second parent in a same-sex couple, or an adoptive parent expecting a new baby, you won’t experience the same hormonal boost and physical closeness with your developing child that pregnant moms do. But don’t worry, your bond with your child won’t suffer.

Babies and older children have the capacity to form tight bonds with any caregiver who responds to their physical and emotional needs. Attachment theory — the guiding psychological principle of human relationships — says that people of all ages become deeply connected with others who provide a sense of security and support.

As labor progresses, the stream of oxytocin in a mom-to-be’s brain and bloodstream becomes a torrent. Among its many other jobs, the hormone causes contractions and gets breast milk flowing. (It works so well that doctors routinely pump pitocin, a synthetic form of oxytocin, through an IV to induce labor.)

As a brand-new mom, you’ll be practically swimming in oxytocin when you finally get to hold your baby. The hormone can break through the exhaustion and pain of labor to give you a feeling of euphoria and intense love. According to pediatrician and child development expert Marshall Klaus, the potency of oxytocin helps explain why babies are almost never abandoned in hospitals that allow mothers to hold and nurse them in the first hour after birth.

New fathers aren’t immune to the bewitching nature of babies — or the effects of oxytocin — either. Like mothers, dads get a rush of the love hormone when they see their baby for the first time. That may help explain the unexpected emotions that sometimes overwhelm dads in the delivery room.

New dads experience other dramatic biological changes, too. A Canadian study in 2001 found that men’s testosterone levels tend to plummet (for a couple of months anyway) after they become dads for the first time. Even more intriguing, some men start to produce extra estrogen, perhaps the clearest sign of the transformative power of fatherhood. According to Diane Witt, a neuroscientist with the National Science Foundation, estrogen makes the brain more sensitive to oxytocin, presumably helping fathers become more loving and attentive.

Oxytocin isn’t the only love chemical. Dopamine, the main currency of pleasure in the brain, plays an important role in early bonding, too — for you and for your baby. As you hold, rock, or nurse your child, you both get a rush of this “reward” chemical.

While you’re savoring the high, dopamine is helping your baby attach emotionally to you. In 2004, Italian researchers put this together by observing baby mice: Those that couldn’t sense dopamine didn’t especially care whether or not their mom was around. It’s the strongest evidence yet that dopamine plays a crucial role in mother and infant bonding.

Incidentally, dopamine is what gives drug users a feeling of well-being when they’re high on heroin or cocaine. In a very real sense, addicts who get hooked on drugs are simply chasing the feeling that ideally flows between parent and child. Parental love just happens to be infinitely healthier.

Eczema, also called dermatitis, is an irritation mainly caused by allergies. Symptoms of eczema include inflammation of the skin, itchiness, the appearance of blisters, scaling and thickening of the skin. Eczema typically appears on face, elbows, knees and arms, but hands and feet also common areas where eczema can flare up.

Eczema is distinguished by its various types - including allergic contact dermatitis, atopic eczema, irritant contact dermatitis, infantile seborrhoeic eczema (also known as cradle cap), adult seborrhoeic dermatitis, varicose eczema and discoid eczema. Eczema can be treated with prescribed cortisone cream in combination with lotions or immunomodulators (medications that increases the body’s immune response).

Moisturizing the skin is a must for people with eczema. Additional treatments include light therapy; which makes use of ultraviolet lights such as PUVA, UVB and Narrow Band UVB. Chinese herbal medicine has also been used to effectively treat eczema.

To prevent eczema from getting worse take shorter and less frequent baths and showers. Also avoid directly washing the affected areas. Harsh soaps, detergents, cleaners and lotions should also be avoided. It’s also beneficial to keep the skin cool and dry by wearing loose fitting cotton materials. The worse thing you can do is scratch your eczema when it feels itchy. Scratching affected areas will damage your skin and aggravate eczema further.

Types of eczema:

Infantile seborrhoeic eczema (baby eczema) - A common condition affecting babies under one year old, the exact cause of which is unknown. Also referred to as cradle cap, it usually starts on the scalp or the nappy area and quickly spreads. Although this type of eczema looks unpleasant, it is not sore or itchy and does not cause the baby to feel uncomfortable or unwell. Normally this type of eczema will clear in just a few months, though the use of moisturizing creams and bath oils can help to speed this along.

Atopic eczema - Atopic eczema is the commonest form of eczema and is closely linked with asthma and hayfever. It can affect both children and adults, usually running in families. One of the most common symptoms of atopic eczema is its itchiness (or pruritis), which can be almost unbearable. Other symptoms include overall dryness of the skin, redness and inflammation. Constant scratching can also cause the skin to split, leaving it prone to infection. In infected eczema the skin may crack and weep (‘wet’ eczema). Treatments include emollients to maintain skin hydration and steroids to reduce inflammation.

Allergic contact dermatitis - Develops when the body’s immune system reacts against a substance in contact with the skin. The allergic reaction often develops over a period of time through repeated contact with the substance. For example, an allergic reaction may occur to nickel, which is often found in earrings, belt buckles and jeans buttons. Reactions can also occur after contact with other substances such as perfumes and rubber. In order to prevent repeated reactions it is best to prevent contact with anything that you know causes a rash.

Irritant contact dermatitis - This is a type of eczema caused by frequent contact with everyday substances, such as detergents and chemicals, which are irritating to the skin. It most commonly occurs on the hands of adults and can be prevented by avoiding the irritants and keeping the skin moisturized.

Adult seborrhoeic eczema - Characteristically affects adults between the ages of 20 and 40. It is usually seen on the scalp as mild dandruff, but can spread to the face, ears and chest. The skin becomes red, inflamed and starts to flake. The condition is believed to be caused by a yeast growth. If the condition becomes infected, treatment with an anti-fungal cream may be necessary.

Varicose eczema - Varicose eczema affects the lower legs of those in their middle to late years, being caused by poor circulation. Commonly the skin around the ankles is affected, becoming speckled, itchy and inflamed. Treatment is with emollients and steroid creams. If left untreated, the skin can break down, resulting in an ulcer.

Discoid eczema - Is usually found in adults and appears suddenly as a few coin shaped areas of red skin, normally on the trunk or lower legs. They become itchy and can weep fluid. Usually discoid eczema is treated with emollients (and steroid creams if necessary).

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.

Hiccups - are sudden contractions of the diaphragm caused by irritation or stimulation of that muscle.

Fontanels - Most babies have two of them, one on the top of the head and one a little further back. The rear fontanel usually closes within four months, while the front one does not close until the child is at least a year old. Don’t be afraid to touch these spots gently; they’re covered with a tough membrane to protect the delicate contents underneath.

Open-eyed sleeping - called nocturnal lagophthalmos in medical-speak. Sleeping with the eyes open happens during REM, which is a more active sleep cycle. Babies spend much more time in REM sleep than adults, about 50 percent of their total sleep time.

Temperature readings are different from different parts of the body (rectum, ear, mouth). Your child has a fever if her temperature is above:
• Rectal 100.4° F (38.0° C)
• Oral 99.5° F (37.5° C)
• Axillary (armpit) 98.6° F (37.0° C)
• Tympanic (ear) 100.0° F (37.8° C)