with Jasvir Singh
Thinking about oxytocin, once known as the shy hormone, has made
a 360 degree turn.
Michel Odent, a practitioner who introduced the concept of birthing pools and
focuses on the long-term consequences of early experiences, writes that oxytocin is now showing up as the social hormone.
Odent claims that since the discovery of oxytocin
a century ago by Henry Dale, we have been trying to understand its effects.
Through the combination of various experiments and observations, oxytocin came
to be known as the “shy hormone” (maybe before it became the "cuddle
hormone"), because it resembled a shy person who does not appear in the
presence of strangers or observers.
Couples would isolate themselves to make love, as
if they knew the shy hormone would be released. Women would isolate themselves
during breastfeeding and childbirth for the same reason. Women would protect
the birthing experience from men as if they knew that oxytocin was shyer in a
male than in a female environment.
However, this slowly changed, according to Odent. Not only have we forgotten
that oxytocin is a shy hormone, but furthermore we are sending the opposite
message. It is now encouraged to have coaches and support teams in birthing
rooms; privacy is no longer a priority. We’ve reversed most of our ideas and
are promoting a new generation of studies about oxytocin release.
This new generation of studies seems to make
sense, though. We had to wait until the 1970s to discover that a newborn human
baby needs its mother. . We’ve learned that
the germs of the mother should be the first to colonize the baby’s body. Ad we know that mothering actually influences the sensitivity and distribution of oxytocin receptors in the baby's body.
You can read Odent’s entire article here: http://www.midirs.org/development/MIDIRSEssence.nsf/article/81B0FC4867DC184A8025768200528739?OpenDocument&utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter
