According to Dr Sarah J Buckley, “Mother Nature wants us all to have a positive experience of birth”. Women are hardwired to have an easy, safe and pleasurable birthing experience and this is made possible by certain hormones that are released naturally during labour. This has enabled women to birth safely since humans first roamed the Earth, enabling the continuation and survival of our species.
It has only been very recently in evolutionary terms, that medicine has had a role in child birth. This of course, has seen many lives saved. However, it is important to remember as you near the time of your birth, you are physiologically made to birth your child naturally and then to have everything you need to see your beautiful new baby survive and thrive.
Essentially labour is driven by a series of hormones. One of the many hormones involved in labour is oxytocin, sometimes referred to the hormone of love.
Oxytocin is released from our pituitary gland in our brain during sexual activity, orgasm, breastfeeding, hugging, and sharing a meal. It may assist in switching off the sympathetic nervous system (stress and fear). During child birth, oxytocin is responsible for the contraction of the uterus.
Oxytocin in labour
Throughout a natural labour, the mother’s levels of oxytocin gradually increase. More oxytocin is released when the uterus stretches as a result of her baby’s head descending down the birth canal initiating stronger contractions which will deliver the baby.
If the mother is given an epidural during her labour, her oxytocin levels will reduce and not rise as they should as labour progresses. This is often why women who have an epidural have a higher risk of requiring instrumental assistance (forceps or vacuum) to give birth.
Oxytocin immediately after birth (third stage of labour)
The baby also produces oxytocin and when the baby is born immediate skin-to-skin and eye-to-eye contact between mother and baby will initiate more oxytocin to be released in both allowing bonding to properly occur. Having the baby placed onto the mother’s tummy straight after birth is not only important for bonding, but also to ensure the proper delivery of the mother’s placenta. When oxytocin continues to be released in good levels after birth, the uterus continues to contract allowing for delivery of the placenta and prevent the mother from bleeding.
Oxytocin in breastfeeding
As her baby suckles, pulses of oxytocin are released from the mother’s brain, which causes the let-down reflex. Oxytocin is responsible for that relaxed, calm, loving feeling mothers experience whilst breastfeeding enabling them to have a positive experience of feeding their babies.
Synthetic oxytocin
Labour is often induced by injection of synthetic oxytocin which acts very differently from the woman’s natural oxytocin release. Contractions initiated by synthetic oxytocin tend to be a lot stronger and closer together than a woman’s natural contractions, especially early in labour. However, these stronger, more frequent contractions do not always correlate with an increase in cervix dilation and also the woman’s oxytocin receptors in the uterus can decrease, often leading to further interventions.
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