Before Baby Arrives: Building Heartfelt Connection in the Womb
Before Baby Arrives

The Role of Hormones in Connection

Complete & Continue Next Lesson Learn More

Oxytocin, Endorphins, and the Sacred Chemistry of Bonding

You are biologically designed to love your baby deeply. Hormones like oxytocin and endorphins are not just invisible chemicals—they are sacred tools of bonding, guiding you into intuitive, attuned parenting.

💞 Oxytocin: The Hormone of Love and Connection

💞 Oxytocin: The Hormone of Love and Connection

Oxytocin is often referred to as the “love hormone” or “bonding hormone.” It plays a crucial role in labour, breastfeeding, and the emotional attachment between a parent and child.

What Oxytocin Does:

  • Stimulates uterine contractions during labor, facilitating a smoother birth process.

  • Promotes milk ejection (let-down reflex) during breastfeeding.

  • Deepens emotional bonding between mother and baby, as well as between partners.

  • Reduces stress by lowering cortisol levels, especially during skin-to-skin contact and gentle touch.

"Oxytocin is not only a hormone; it is a message of trust, safety, and love from body to body."

Spiritual Lens: Hormones as Sacred Messengers

In many spiritual traditions, oxytocin is considered the chemical expression of divine love—a substance that facilitates sacred union, not just between parent and child, but also between mother and self, body and soul.

By creating space for:

  • Stillness

  • Eye contact

  • Loving touch

  • Intuitive breastfeeding and babywearing

…we enter into rituals of connection that are both biological and transcendent.

Endorphins:

Nature’s Natural Pain Relief and Joy Response

Endorphins are feel-good neurochemicals released during:

  • Labour (especially unmedicated or low-intervention births)

  • Breastfeeding

  • Laughter and touch

  • Rhythmic movement like dancing, walking, or swaying

Endorphins:

  • Buffer pain naturally during labor and birth.

  • Create euphoria, sometimes called the “birth high.”

  • Promote maternal-infant attunement, helping parents feel emotionally open and loving.

“Endorphins open the doorway for intuitive, instinctive parenting.”

Emotional Bonding Begins in Utero

  • Babies are exposed to the mother's hormonal environment. Cortisol (stress) and oxytocin (love) cross the placenta and affect fetal heart rate and activity.

  • Babies learn the emotional rhythms of their mother and begin forming internal templates for safety and connection.

Calm Mothers, Connected Babies

“The baby learns connection first through how it feels to be felt, seen, and held in love.”

When a mother feels safe, supported, and emotionally calm, she produces more oxytocin and endorphins. This state of calm:

  • Regulates the baby’s developing nervous system

  • Creates a positive emotional imprint that influences long-term attachment and stress response

  • Encourages the baby’s own oxytocin release, fostering mutual co-regulation

🌸 Practices to Support Hormonal Bonding

Practice

  1. Skin-to-skin after birth

  2. Eye contact while feeding

  3. Gentle massage or babywearing

  4. Soft music, dim lights, warm bath

Hormonal Response

  1. Oxytocin & endorphins surge

  2. Oxytocin release

  3. Increases oxytocin

  4. Lowers cortisol, boosts oxytocin

Benefit

  1. Calms both mother and baby

  2. Strengthens emotional connection

  3. Promotes regulation and bonding

  4. Creates safety and calm

Conclusion: Your Hormones Are Here to Help

You are biologically designed to love your baby deeply. Hormones like oxytocin and endorphins are not just invisible chemicals—they are sacred tools of bonding, guiding you into intuitive, attuned parenting.

"When we trust the body, we invite in the wisdom of love."

  • 1.     Boddy, A. M., Fortunato, A., Wilson Sayres, M. A., & Aktipis, A. (2015). Fetal microchimerism and maternal health: A review and evolutionary analysis of cooperation and conflict beyond the womb. BioEssays.

    2.     Bradley, R. T. (2006). The physiology of compassion and its implications for human behavior. HeartMath Research Center.

    3.     Buckley, S. (2005). Hormonal Physiology of Childbearing. Childbirth Connection.

    4.     DeCasper, A.J., & Fifer, W.P. (1980). Of human bonding: Newborns prefer their mothers' voices. Science.

    5.     Feldman, R. (2007). Parent–infant synchrony and the construction of shared timing; physiological precursors, developmental outcomes, and risk conditions. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 48(3-4), 329–354.

    6.     Feldman, R. (2012). Oxytocin and social affiliation in humans. Hormones and Behavior, 61(3), 380–391.

    7.     Feldman R. (2012). Oxytocin and the development of parenting. Biological Psychiatry, 72(10), 731–733.

    8.     Field, T. (2010). Touch for socioemotional and physical well-being: A review. Developmental Review, 30(4), 367–383.

    9.     Field T et al. (2005). Prenatal cortisol levels and fetal behavior. Infant Behavior & Development.

    10.  García-Banda, G., et al. (2012). Dream content and psychological factors in pregnancy: A review. Journal of Reproductive and Infant Psychology, 30(3), 294–304.

    11.  Garfield, P. (2001). Pregnancy Dreams: Discover What Your Dreams Mean About You and Your Baby.

    12.  Glover V, Capron LE. (2017). Prenatal parenting: The foundations of future mental health. European Journal of Developmental Psychology.

    13.  Goleman, D. (1995). Emotional Intelligence: Why It Can Matter More Than IQ. Bantam Books.

    14.  HeartMath Institute. (2016). Science of the Heart: Exploring the Role of the Heart in Human Performance. https://www.heartmath.org

    15.  Hepper, P. G. (1991). An examination of fetal learning before and after birth. Irish Journal of Psychology, 12(2), 95–107.

    16.  Hepper, P. G., Scott, D., & Shahidullah, S. (1991). Newborn and fetal response to maternal voice. Developmental Psychobiology, 24(5), 427–434.

    17.  Hunter, B. (2006). Midwives, Dreams and Spirituality in Childbearing. British Journal of Midwifery, 14(5), 276–281.

    18.  Kennell, J. H., & Klaus, M. H. (1998). Bonding: Building the Foundations of Secure Attachment and Independence. Addison-Wesley.

    19.  Keverne, E. B., Martensz, N. D., & Tuite, B. (1989). Beta-endorphin concentrations in cerebrospinal fluid of women during labor. The Lancet, 334(8667), 1225–1228.

    20.  Kinder, J. M., Stelzer, I. A., Arck, P. C., & Way, S. S. (2017). Immunological implications of pregnancy-induced microchimerism. Nature Reviews Immunology.

    21.  Kisilevsky BS et al. (2003). Fetal responses to maternal voice and music. Developmental Psychobiology.

    22.  Marx, V., Nagy, E., & Kopp, M. S. (2001). Self-touch in the fetus: Developmental trends and intrauterine stimulation. Developmental Psychobiology, 39(1), 44–53.

    23.  Marx V, Nagy E. (2015). Fetal behavioural responses to maternal voice and touch. Frontiers in Psychology.

    24.  Mayer, E. A., Tillisch, K., & Gupta, A. (2015). Gut/brain axis and the microbiota. Journal of Clinical Investigation, 125(3), 926–938.

    25.  McCraty, R., Atkinson, M., & Bradley, R. T. (2004). Electrophysiological evidence of intuition: Part 1. The surprising role of the heart. Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine, 10(1), 133–143.

    26.  McCraty, R., Bradley, R. T., & Tomasino, D. (2006). The resonant heart: Heart-brain interactions, psychophysiological coherence, and the emergence of system-wide order. Integral Review, 2(2), 10–115.

    27.  McCraty, R., & Zayas, M. A. (2014). Cardiac coherence, self-regulation, autonomic stability, and psychosocial well-being. Frontiers in Psychology, 5, 1090.

    28.  Mennella, J. A., Jagnow, C. P., & Beauchamp, G. K. (2001). Prenatal and postnatal flavor learning by human infants. Pediatrics, 107(6), e88.

    29.  Odent, M. (1999). The Scientification of Love. London: Free Association Books.

    30.  Pagel, J. F. (2008). Sleep disorders and dreaming: A review. Current Neurology and Neuroscience Reports, 8(2), 145–152.

    31.  Partanen, E., Kujala, T., Huotilainen, M., et al. (2013). Learning-induced neural plasticity of speech processing before birth. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 110(37), 15145–15150.

    32.  Reid, V. M., Dunn, K., Young, R. J., Amu, J., Donovan, T., & Reissland, N. (2017). The human fetus preferentially engages with face-like visual stimuli. Current Biology, 27(12), 1825–1828.e3.

    33.  Riedl, M., Van Leeuwen, P., Suhrbier, A., Malberg, H., Grönemeyer, D., Kurths, J., & Wessel, N. (2009). Testing foetal–maternal heart rate synchronization via model-based analyses. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences, 367(1892), 1407–1421.

    34.  Schore, A. N. (2001). The effects of early relational trauma on right brain development, affect regulation, and infant mental health. Infant Mental Health Journal, 22(1–2), 201–269.

    35.  Stern, D. N. (1995). The Motherhood Constellation: A Unified View of Parent-Infant Psychotherapy.

    36.  Trevathan, W. (2011). Human Birth: An Evolutionary Perspective (2nd ed.). Aldine Transaction.

    37.  Uvnäs-Moberg, K. (2014). The Hormone of Closeness: The Role of Oxytocin in Relationships. Pinter & Martin.

    38.  Uvnäs-Moberg, K. (2011). The Oxytocin Factor: Tapping the Hormone of Calm, Love and Healing. London: Pinter & Martin Ltd.

    39.  Werner, E. A., Myers, M. M., & Fifer, W. P. (2007). Prenatal predictors of infant temperament. Infant Behavior & Development.

    40.  Zeng, X., Pan, J., Zhang, W., et al. (2010). Fetal cells in maternal brain: A new dimension for the cellular interchange during pregnancy. Reproductive Sciences.