Prolactin hormone rewires maternal brain to make infant care feel rewarding

In the months surrounding birth, the human brain does not merely adjust — it reorganizes itself at a fundamental level, and a team at the University of Otago has now traced one of the key mechanisms driving that transformation. Prolactin, long known for enabling milk production, activates a neural pathway that connects hormone-sensing regions of the brain directly to its reward center, releasing dopamine and making the labor of caregiving feel intrinsically meaningful rather than merely obligatory. Published in Science Advances, the finding reframes maternal bonding not as an emotional disposi