#1 Nip Tips: Hormone Edition
we're talking about our friends prolactin and oxytocin
Happy Thursday!
Our Nip Tip today covers the hormones of lactation - prolactin and oxytocin. While other hormones help regulate breastfeeding, these are the powerhouses. Understanding how they affect milk production and expression will help you gain control over your experience. As one of my fav influencers, Joshua Doss says “everything is a conspiracy theory when you don’t understand how anything works”. We will also discuss breastfeeding in the news - and just for fun I’ll share what I’m reading, some inspiration, and what I’m cooking lately.
This week I have 5 Nip Tips:
Get baby to breast within 1 hour after birth, the “golden hour”. If you are separated from your infant after delivery, start manual expression or pumping as soon as safely possible.
If you are trying to stash some breast milk for returning to work, pump in the morning after your baby has fed. Your milk supply is highest then.
If you are concerned about your supply, make sure you are pumping or nursing at least 8 times per 24 hours. Then add a pump or nursing session in the evenings, when your supply is lowest to create more “demand”.
When in doubt, get your baby skin-to-skin. This will calm you both (thanks oxytocin!), then you can problem solve with a clear mind.
If you have concerns, reach out to your birth provider, pediatrician, or contact a lactation professional in your area for personalized advice.
Those are the Nip Tips - if you are a science pearlie (person whom loves science), read why these tips work below:
Hormones!
Hormones! It’s all I’m hearing about right now. And I have more to say next week, but for now let’s get the basics of lactation down. During pregnancy, our estrogen and progesterone levels are high. Especially, progesterone, which is THE pregnancy hormone - she’s our girl. She blocks prolactin (Pro-Lactation) - the star of lactation.
You don’t have prolactin - you don’t have milk.
After our sweet bundles are delivered, particularly the placenta, progesterone and estrogen decline rapidly. Now, prolactin can shine. She starts pulsing 7-20 times per day, with levels peaking overnight (Wambach & Spencer, 2026). This is why your breasts may be so full in the mornings, and may feel more empty in the evenings. And why your once happy, milk-drunk, sleepy baby is suddenly demanding constant meals at roughly 4pm throughout “the witching hours”.
Cluster feeding is a normal part of breastfeeding and occurs most commonly in the evenings, when supply may be lower related to prolactin. Prolactin increases in response to nipple stimulation - breastfeeding, pumping, hand-expression, etc. Your hungry helper is demanding more milk, increasing your supply.
More stimulation = more prolactin = more milk.
Fun Fact - Researchers placed lidocaine (a numbing medication) on mothers’ nipples, which deadened sensation and the prolactin levels did not rise in response to stimulation (Wambach & Spencer, 2026). So, if your latch is ineffective or your pump settings are not adequate or your flanges don’t fit - you will not trigger milk production.
Prolactin also increases when the mother drinks alcohol. I guess my Nana was right - a beer may help increase milk supply. Kellymom has great information about alcohol and breastfeeding. Cigarette smoking decreases prolactin, which would cause low milk supply (Wambach & Spencer, 2026).
And finally - early initiation of feeding, during the “golden hour” or initiation of breastfeeding in the first hour after birth, increases the development of prolactin receptors in the mammary glands (breasts). More receptors means more prolactin used and that means…you guessed it - more milk.
Now, just like Tango - it takes two. Prolactin establishes and maintains the supply, and oxytocin releases the milk from the breast. When the nipple is stimulated, oxytocin causes the release of the milk-ejection reflex or “letdown”. You may be saying, “Oxytocin? I know her!”. She’s a feel good hormone, the hormone of love, also responsible for contracting the uterus. If you birthed in a hospital, you may have received her synthetic sister, pitocin.
When we fall in love, when we’re sexually aroused, and when our nipples are stimulated our bodies release oxytocin. It helps deepen our bonds with our partners and our babies. It has a calming effect and can help reduce pain in the mother, especially in the immediate postpartum period (Wambach & Spencer, 2026). Breastfeeding during the placenta delivery and repair of any tears from childbirth can reduce pain in the mother.
Oxytocin is natures way of reducing bleeding after delivery and help the uterus get snatched (read: small and tight), which protects the mother from excessive bleeding. Pitocin (synthetic oxytocin) is used in labor and postpartum for it’s ability to cause the uterus to contract.
These two hormones are working constantly throughout the breastfeeding journey, we will discuss in more detail next week! What questions do you have so I can be sure to include them in our next post.
Current Event - normalize breastfeeding in public
In this Radio New Zealand article last month, multiple women in the article were discriminated against while breastfeeding or expressing breast milk in public. One woman was nursing her child pool side when she was called “disgusting” by a passerby. Another woman was asked to leave an airline business lounge when other people in the lounge were uncomfortable with her pumping.
Both women were legally protected by laws in Australia, however a stigma around breastfeeding remains. Unfortunately, breastfeeding is not the norm, and many people do not spend any amount of time around people who are breastfeeding. The fear of discrimination and the lack or normalization are contributing factors to the declining breastfeeding rates around the world.
According to the Australian Breastfeeding Association, breastfeeding initiation rates are very high at 96%, but they quickly fall to just 15% by 3-5 months. There are many factors, but the anxiety mother’s feel to feed or express milk in public is a large contributor.
Rates are lower in the United States according to the Center for Disease Control (CDC), in 2019 just 83% of infants nationwide ever received breast milk and rates fall to 25% exclusively breastfeeding by 6 months.
In the United States, expressing breast milk (through feeding or pumping) is legally protected in all 50 states and 31 states protect mothers from public indecency laws. Delaying expression can have physical consequences like mastitis and can lower milk supply when women are unable to express.
Breasts are sexually objectified, which shames the mother into feeding in private. Breastfeeding is one of the best preventative health measures we have - for our babies, mothers, and communities.
Victoria Marshall-Cerins, executive officer at the Australian Breastfeeding Association, says “We are stigmatising a pro-health behaviour that is contributing to relieving the health burden of society in general.” I mean whoa - preach!
Check out the National Conference of State Legislature link above to get familiar with your rights to express milk in public.
What I’m reading -
Lisa See “The Island of Sea Women”
This book is…. I can’t even put it into words. It’s beautiful, it’s heart wrenching, tragic, well-researched, historical, and deeply relevant today. This is the story of Young-sook, a haenyeo, on Jeju Island in Korea. Jeju is a matrifocal community where the women are the providers for the family as the men have been outlawed from diving in the sea to harvest seafood. The women or haenyo carry the majority of familial responsibility and are the center of the culture on Jeju. Young-sook befriends Mi-ja at a young age, and they become inseparable. Their lives are hard and the girls friendship is tested as the story spans many decades through Japanese occupation, WWII, the Korean War, and beyond.
As a Capricorn (read: stubborn), I identify with Young-sook’s determination, strength, and pride. She made decisions and stood by them, but was her pride her weakness? Young-sook was stoic and stood by decisions she made, but she made them based exclusively on her world view. She never considered another side to her story. As the world feels divided today, empathy and compassion feel like a weakness. Forgiveness can feel impossible. But there truly are two sides to every story.
The more we know, the more we put ourselves in other people’s shoes - the better off we are.
I will be devouring all Lisa See’s books for the foreseeable future.
What I’m eating/cooking
burnt pumpkin seeds with ranch flavoring - we carved pumpkins over the weekend and I have fond memories of roasting the seeds afterwards. Unfortunately, I was lost in my Duolingo practice and forgot them in the oven.
Photo by Scott Webb on Unsplash baking bread - this is THE sandwich bread recipe. It comes out perfect every time. You can bake in your sleep, although I do not recommend.
Inspiration -
Community - I find myself seeking community, whether its at the farmers market, helping a neighbor, etc. It feels grounding to reach out to people, in my physical world.
Pinterest - Guys! Collages are BACK! And I could not be more excited. This week I was really drawn to all of Gustav Klimt’s work, my mom LOVED “The Kiss”. All his work is just lovely, the florals, the mothers and their children. Fall has me feeling refreshed and creative. And pomegranates! My grandma has a tree and we have been gobbling them up!
How can I help?
Are there any burning questions? What else is helpful? Let me know below.
Coming soon -
We will be starting a series called The Breastfeeding Diaries soon! I’ll be interviewing friends about their experiences in an effort to normalize breastfeeding.
Next week we will be covering more on hormones in lactation. In case you missed it…
Thank you so much for reading + I’ll see you Monday,
Sasha Jarman, RN, APRN, FNP-C
(1) Wambach, K., & Spencer, B. (Eds.). (2026). Breastfeeding and human lactation (seventh edition). Jones and Bartlett Learning.