Breastfeeding for comfort
Aside from the nucleotides, your baby receives as they breastfeed, breastfeeding also releases the oxytocin hormone (also known as the love hormone), evoking feelings of happiness, calm and contentedness. If you doubt this, just look at how happy your baby looks as you breastfeed her!
Aside from breastfeeding, oxytocin is one of the hormones involved in the process of making love and giving birth. It helps in cementing that bond of love and closeness between mother and child, so it’s no wonder your child will seek the answer to any of her needs by asking to be fed. It’s one way of getting closer to you and is part of how they instinctively seek you out when anything is wrong.
So the next time someone tells you not to breastfeed your little one because she just wants comfort, you can explain to them why breastfeeding for any reason is just as important as providing your baby with nutrients.
