So, I have been taking some A-mazing classes about birth…really I don’t know where to begin with all the new knowledge that I have acquired on the things that happen to us as women giving birth. We studied the endocrine system this weekend in relation to what happens when a women is pregnant. One of the hormones that is increased is melanin. You now, that stuff that makes brown people, brown :). Well, let’s think about what turns dark in a pregnant women. Typically, she develops a linea negra down the midline of her stomach, her areolas around her nipples darken and sometimes the area around her cheeks and mouth darken into what is commonly referred to as “pregnancy mask” or “the mask of pregnancy”.
Let’s now stop for a minute and think about the newborn baby. What do we know about their sight at birth? We know that they can only see bright contrasts. Not really any color. Their most prominent sense, is the sense of smell. Smell is the only one of our senses that is connected directly to the brain, in fact it is directly connected to the limbic system in our brain. The limbic system is one of the oldest parts of our brains and is often referred to as the emotional seat of our brain. In fact, our body will have a physiological response to smell before we even register it on a conscious level! But I digress…
So we have this amazing little newborn (not as helpless as we think!) hardwired when they come out and when they are put on mom’s abdomen they know how to work their way up to the breast and begin nursing. There are some wonderful videos of newborns making their way up to their mother’s breast without any assistance, much like other mammals do! It is referred to as the breast crawl (just youtube it!). Anyway, the linea negra serves as an arrow to these babies that can only see in contrast and as they move their way up, guided also by the smell of breasts (food!), they see the target bullseye of the darken areolas in comparison to the body to locate food. For mothers who develop the mask of pregnancy, it helps their baby to lock into their face and make that first love connection that you make with your baby when you look deep into each others eyes and connect. Both breastfeeding and staring at your baby cause oxytocin (the love hormone) to release in your body and you develop that intense love that you are amazed you can have for another human being and you are connected!
They have done studies to show that when moms and babies look in each others eyes and talk back and forth and coo at each other that their actual brainwaves become in-synch with one another and they entrain to one another. Almost as if they can read each other’s thoughts! It’s amazing the way we were created with everything in perfect balance. Nothing that happens to our bodies is by chance! It is all in harmony with a larger plan! Even something as small as a skinny line on your belly getting darker…