The method of delivery also seems to be important for activating this oxytocin-reward axis. Roughly one-third of all births in the United States today are by cesarean section, a procedure that bypasses the birth canal. This bypass prevents nerve signaling from the vaginocervical area from reaching the brain, muting the oxytocin release from the PVN. In an imaging study similar to the breast-feeding test, Swain found that the motivation and reward centers in the brains of mothers who gave birth by cesarean rather than vaginally were less responsive to their own baby’s cry. Mothers who gave
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