Nyree Penn explains how oxytocin levels crash after childbirth, triggering postpartum fog and emotional swings. The hormone that bonds you to your baby during pregnancy drops sharply right after delivery, leaving new mothers with rapid mood changes.
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So the main thing with the postpartum— you've had a baby, your hormones are all over the place. Estrogen and progesterone, they really are more for menstruating. But during our pregnancies, what happens is it's the oxytocin. So it's that oxytocin, that ability to bond. You know, we have a new baby. It's ongoing throughout our life, but it's very, very high during pregnancy. We're bringing life into this world. You want that to be very, very high, and it is. But as soon as the baby is born, there's a sudden drop. Usually when we go through these rapid swings in emotions, it's due to a rapid swing of one of our sex hormones, and specifically with pregnancy and postpartum fog, it's oxytocin.