“Sometimes, when I am breastfeeding my 8-month-old baby, I have the sensation to feel aroused. I feel warmth in my vulva and a desire for sex. It makes me feel very confused. Is this normal?”

From time to time, we receive questions similar to this one. To feel aroused during breastfeeding is something that can be very confusing for a mother. How can she get aroused while feeding her baby?

Arousal during breastfeeding has an explanation

Actually, the explanation is very simple: one of the hormones that are released during breastfeeding, oxytocin, is the hormone that is also released in other moments of maximum intimacy, such as during orgasm, childbirth, or when in intimate contact with another person.

Oxytocin, in addition to being responsible for making breast milk come out of your breasts, is also responsible for causing the uterus to contract intensely during childbirth or gently when having an orgasm. Therefore, it is not unusual to experience pleasurable sensations or even arousal when you are breastfeeding.

When can this happen?

It is quite common for these sensations to appear during those feeds that can be calmer and more relaxed. Maybe when the baby is falling asleep for a nap, for example, when breastfeeding has been established for months and you can relax while nursing. One thing about this situation is that the object of desire is not the baby. It has nothing to do with your baby but with the hormone that activates the release of breast milk. This is just a physiological response and quite common.

Whether you feel it or not, there is nothing wrong with you

Some mothers have contacted us not because they feel arousal but because they feel pain or cramping in the uterus when they are breastfeeding in these situations. The process is probably the same, but the body reads it differently.

For some mothers, this feeling of arousal during breastfeeding is not pleasant at all, and they feel bad about what is happening to them; they may feel a great deal of confusion. Also, because this is a taboo subject, the feeling that it only happens to you, that something is wrong with you, can also cause a lot of damage, to the point of wanting to wean and stop breastfeeding.

Knowing why this happens, that it is not uncommon, and that the arousal is not because of your baby but because of the hormonal mechanism of breastfeeding can give you peace of mind.