Fathers often ask me if they are at a disadvantage in parenting their babies because they don't have a "maternal instinct." It makes me feel sad that these men don't have confidence in their own ability to comfort and love and protect their babies. I have tried to reassure them that with time and experience they will bond with their babies. I encourage them to spend time skin to skin with their newborns and to care for and groom their babies (change and bathe them) because we know those things promote oxytocin production and bonding in mothers.
Today, this interesting article http://tinyurl.com/2fap962 came into my email about a study done in Israel on oxytocin levels in fathers. Oxytocin is the hormone thought to be responsible for our ability to bond to to other human beings. Interestingly, this study seem to be the first one done on fathers' oxytocin levels.
It found that fathers' oxytocin levels when their babies are 6 weeks and 6 months old are the same as their partners' levels.
So there really is no "maternal" instinct. Just parental love
