Lisa Belkin of NYT’s Motherlode blog writes:
Oxytocin has been called “the love hormone” because levels of it rise in women during childbirth and breast-feeding, and it is thought to facilitate bonding. It is present in men, too, and everything from eye contact to orgasm can increase its amount.
But does the hormone stimulate bonding in new fathers as it does in new mothers? A new study in the journal Biological Psychiatry, the first to look at what its authors describe as “the transition to fatherhood,” suggests that it does. And it also suggests a biological basis for the fact that men and women so often relate differently to infant and toddlers, with women more often cooing and cuddling and men tickling and tossing. more
Categories: Fatherhood, Motherhood
It makes you wonder how much of what we call mothering is behavior that can be learned and practiced by men. Even with that, breasts and breast-feeding seem likely to remain well outside of men’s abilities….
What the study seems to show is that for both mothers and fathers, the more Oxytocin, the more the parent will want to be in contact with the infant. Furthermore, mothers tend to cuddle and fathers tend to tickle (to simplify).
I’d really like to see this study’s data, because I’d bet money that what it really shows is that mothers and fathers both tickle the baby, and both cuddle the baby — but each sex does one activity somewhat more. If so, what’s being discussed isn’t distinct and separate mother and father behaviors, but parenting behaviors that both sexes do, but with different frequencies. (And perhaps only slightly different frequencies.)
Are my friends and relatives just weird? Because every dad I know has cuddled the baby, and every mom I know has ticked. Cuddling babies is fun, and making babies laugh is fun, no matter what sex you are.
Put it anther way: Would anyone watch this adorable video and think “gosh, what a weird and unexpected way for a mom to act. I thought only dads did that”?