Dr. Edna Lekgabe

Testosterone goes down.

Oxytocin and prolactin, which is what you were saying, you're that glow, you know, that bubble, that bond.

You hold the baby and there's just this beautiful little thing.

Shows up, beautiful.

You're not lactating.

Prolactin is the hormone that allows lactation.

You're not lactating, obviously, but it's inducing that same response, that love, that interest that you look at the baby.

It's interesting.

Every time you look at the baby, you get a little dopamine reward hit.

It's like almost like, I shouldn't say this, methamphetamine looking at your baby.

Look at the little hit.

Yeah.

It's amazing.

You just get addicted to just looking at your baby.

So it's this little bubble.

And there's also vasopressin that shows up.

That's a hormone that's not talked about much and it compensates for what testosterone left the building.

It allows you to be aggressive.

It allows you to be territorial and protects.

So the mother's brain is designed to care for the baby, to feed the baby, to keep it alive.