The real use of female Breasts for Lactation
While pregnancy prepares the breasts for lactation, it does not trigger the production of milk. During pregnancy the breasts usually become larger as the number and size of the alveoli glands increases as a result of increased estrogen levels. After delivery, an infant stast nursing then after actual milk production begins.
For the first few days after birth of child, the breasts release colostrum,
which is important to a baby's health. When a baby starts sucking on a woman's
nipple, the resulting physical stimulation causes nerve impulses to be sent to
the hypothalamus gland in the brain which in turn tells the pituitary gland,
also located in the brain, to release two hormones called oxytocin and
prolactin. Prolactin causes milk to be produced and oxytocin causes muscle
fibers that surround the alveoli to constrict, as well as the muscles of the
uterus.
When the muscle fibers around the alveoli constrict causing milk to be secreted
it is referred to as "let-down" and can result in intense sensations
within the breasts and the squirting of milk from the nipples. The sound of a
crying baby can also trigger let-down, indicating how milk production is
influenced by psychological conditions as well as actual nursing.
Between feedings some milk, foremilk, is stored in the alveoli and lactiferous sinuses but the majority of the milk, hindmilk, is produced on demand. The breasts do not store milk, but rather produce it based on demand. The greater the demand, the more they produce, instant and fresh. The breasts should never be compared to milk bottles!
Each breast is made up of fifteen to twenty lobes of glandular tissue. The
number of lobes is not related to the size of the breast. Each lobe is made up
of thousands of tiny glands. These glands are connected together by a series of
ducts, much like grapes on a vine. The alveoli glands produce milk during
lactation after delivery of child from mother’s uterus-cervix-vagina. Each lobe
feeds into a single lactiferous duct that travels out through the nipple. As a
result there are fifteen to twenty passages through the nipple, resulting in
just as many openings in the nipple. Behind the nipple the lactiferous ducts
enlarge slightly to form small reservoir called lactiferous sinuses. Fatty and
connective tissues surround the lobes of glandular tissue.
The amount of fatty
tissue is depended on many factors including age, percentage of body fat, and
heredity. Ligaments connect the chest wall to the skin of the breast, giving
the breast its shape and elasticity.
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