ReviewFrontiers in global women's health2021
Dysphoric Milk Ejection Reflex: The Psychoneurobiology of the Breastfeeding Experience.
Review in Frontiers in global women's health, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 16 papers.
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Who cites it
16 citing papers in PubMed, 41 citations in OpenAlex.
- Decoding the HMO‒microbiome axis: bridging maternal milk to infant health outcomes.Gut microbes · 2026Review
- Infant caregiving, relational factors, mood, and pain in perinatal opioid use disorder: A prospective cohort with ecological momentary assessment.Addictive behaviors · 2026Article
- Dopamine dynamics underlying maternal motivation and reward.Neuroscience research · 2025Review
- When Your Body Tells You to Not Breastfeed-The Connivance of Oxytocin, Prolactin, and Dopamine.International journal of molecular sciences · 2025Review
- Negative emotional experiences of breastfeeding and the milk ejection reflex: a scoping review.International breastfeeding journal · 2025Article
- Defining Dysphoric Milk Ejection Reflex: using Premenstrual Dysphoric Disorder as a framework for proposing preliminary diagnostic criteria.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2025Article
- Determinants of early lactation failure in mothers of moderately preterm neonates: a multilevel analysis of survey data.Frontiers in nutrition · 2025Article
- Dysphoric milk ejection reflex - call for future trials.Archives of gynecology and obstetrics · 2024Article
- Dysphoric milk ejection reflex among Japanese mothers: a self-administered survey.International breastfeeding journal · 2024Article
- Oxytocin Receptor-Expressing Neurons in the Medial Preoptic Area Are Essential for Lactation, whereas Those in the Lateral Septum Are Not Critical for Maternal Behavior.Neuroendocrinology · 2024Article
- The Ethics of Ancient Lactation and the Cult of the Perfect Breastfeeding Mother.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Article
- The prevalence of breastfeeding aversion response in Australia: A national cross-sectional survey.Maternal & child nutrition · 2023Article
- Maternal physiological calming responses to infant suckling at the breast.The journal of physiological sciences : JPS · 2023Article
- Exploring the reasons why mothers do not breastfeed, to inform and enable better support.Frontiers in global women's health · 2023Article
- A subpopulation of oxytocin neurons initiate expression of CRF receptor 1 (CRFR1) in females post parturition.Psychoneuroendocrinology · 2022Article
- Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
7 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Breastfeeding, given its biochemical and physiological basis, is known for its many benefits for both the lactating mother and the infant. Among the many challenges new breastfeeding mothers experience is the feeling of aversion in response to their newborn's suckling which has been termed dysphoric milk-ejection reflex (D-MER). Characterized by intense feelings of dysphoria which may eventually interfere with the mother's ability to breastfeed regularly, evidence suggests both the neurobiological and psychological basis of D-MER in an attempt to explain its complexity. Biologically, breastfeeding is expressed by the intracerebral release of oxytocin, an increased expression of oxytocin receptors in specific brain regions, increased mesocorticolimbic reward region activation, the secretion of prolactin and possibly the inhibition of dopamine. Hence, different theories explain D-MER in terms of disrupted neurotransmitter and hormonal activity. Breastfeeding has also proven to influence mood and stress reactivity in nursing mothers with a potential link with postpartum depression. Psychological theories attempt to explain D-MER from a sociopsychosexual lense shedding light on the significance of mother-infant attachment, the sexualization of the female body and the motherhood experience as a developmental stage in a woman's lifespan. The aim of this review is to provide a literature update of D-MER incorporating both neurobiological and psychological theories calling for raising awareness about the complexity of breastfeeding and for the need for mother-centered interventions for the management of D-MER and other postpartum-specific conditions.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.