I love the NY Times website, as they have fabulous articles that are released on a consistant basis covering health, wellness, and of course, current and world events. My interest rests in keeping my attention on health related updates and I plan on relaying them on to you via this blog, so keep plugged in!

NY Times reports: Having a Baby: Infant’s Smile Works on Mom’s Brain

Research points out that a mother’s brain responds to her babies’ smile by producing dopamine. This is a neurotransmitter (within brain chemical) that facilitates the maternal bond between mother and child. This facilitation occurs because Mom feels GOOD when her baby smiles. The beauty of this arrangement is that Mom gets consistent reinforcement to love and care for her child every time that little devil gives her a smile! Note that the same sort of response that occurs when a drug stimulates dopamine, endorphins, or some other brain chemical to feel good. Nature’s beauty is that by the same arrangement that allows us to get addicted to drugs, Mom is encourage to bond with her baby.

The article made another passing remark: that release of dopamine was also stimulated when her baby cries (or as this study simulated, by seeing a picture of her baby cry). Plus, this same response occurs in women regardless if the baby is hers or not. I offer that this again is a natural maternal goal of motherhood – to respond to her baby’s needs and to make sure they are well taken care of. The idea that all women would have a similar response makes sense when viewed from the perspective that any living baby becomes the responsibility of all women to make sure he/she survives.

Below the cover of our docile, “house-broken” exteriors, humans are animals at our heart. Our brains very powerfully respond to instinctual needs: finding food when hungry, needing a place to live to feel safe, and chasing after the opposite sex to fulfill our reproductive destiny. It makes sense to me that any woman will hear the biological call to support and care-for ANY infant in distress. This makes sure every human infant will find the care needed to survive. Without this brain mechanism, a woman would not have the natural urge to take care of another’s baby and in case of a women’s injury, accident or death, this could prove to be quite a problem for her baby. The implied beauty of this instinct, is that female humans (and many mammals) are naturally inclined to take care of another’s young, whether born by her or not.

I love the biological beauty of how our humanity is actually run by the amazing interplay between biology, instinct, emotion, and human thought. Science continues to find the reasons why we do the things we do, but any mother knows that taking care of a baby and witnessing their smile is simply the RIGHT thing to do! Perhaps one day science will get over itself long enough to simply (and quietly) appreciate the beautiful mystery of humanity.