Page 46 - The Miracle of Hormones

THE MIRACLE OF HORMONES

3. How do these hormones learn that prolactin causes the produc-
tion of milk and that, to prevent the production of milk, the production of
prolactin must be inhibited?
Yet another system stimulates the production of mother's milk at the
right time; this system is another proof that shows how deliberately the
human body is created.
When the baby sucks the milk, nerve cells in the mother's breast
send a nerve impulse to the hypothalamus. This impulse affects the
hypothalamus and ensures that it removes the brake from the prolactin.
In this way, the production of prolactin increases and the milk glands are
stimulated for milk production.
From the time of birth, specific receptors are designed in the
mother's breast that recognize the baby's sucking reflex. These sensory
receptors are connected via neural pathways—similar to electric ca-
bles in a building—to another distant organ, the hypothalamus area of
the brain. That is, a special system has been created to inform the
hypothalamus that the baby's sucking reflex has begun. From among
the countless possibilities within the human body composed of flesh
and bones, these neural signals travel to the right location. They are
not connected by accident to the brain's vision center, the stomach or
the intestines; they are connected to exactly the right place, that is, to
the hypothalamus.

When this electric signal reaches the hypothalamus cells, they begin
the necessary operation for the production of mother's milk. But these
cells have no intelligence or consciousness of their own. They cannot
possibly know that this signal has come from the mother's breast or that
they have been informed of the baby's sucking reflex and, therefore, that
mother's milk must be secreted; they cannot know that an important func-
tion has been assigned to them in the production of mother's milk, or that
they must increase the production of prolactin to activate the milk
glands. This being the case, what causes these unconscious cells to en-
gage in this conscious activity?

44