Cortisol in mother's milk across lactation reflects maternal life history and predicts infant temperament
Year: 2014
Type: article
Abstract: = 108). Glucocorticoids in mother's milk, independent of available milk energy, predicted a more Nervous, less Confident temperament in both sons and daughters. We additionally found sex differences in the windows of sensitivity and the magnitude of sensitivity to maternal-origin glucocorticoids. Lower parity mothers produced milk with higher cortisol concentrations. Lastly, higher cortisol concentrations in milk were associated with greater infant weight gain across time. Taken together, these results suggest that mothers with fewer somatic resources, even in captivity, may be "programming" through cortisol signaling, behaviorally cautious offspring that prioritize growth. Glucocorticoids ingested through milk may importantly contribute to the assimilation of available milk energy, development of temperament, and orchestrate, in part, the allocation of maternal milk energy between growth and behavioral phenotype.
Source: Behavioral Ecology
Authors: K. Hinde, A. L. Skibiel, A. B. Foster, L. Del Rosso, S. P. Mendoza, J. P. Capitanio
Language: English
Domain: Life Sciences
SDG: Zero hunger
Open Access status: green
Awards: California National Primate Research Center, G1811533460, G2677535650, G2914888018, G4095048254, Biobehavioral characterization of infant rhesus monkeys, Longitudinal Investigation of Maternal Influences on Infant Outcomes Mediated by Physiological Investment and Behavioral Care during Lactation in Rhesus Macaques (Macaca mulatta), G791781759, Doctoral Dissertation Improvement: The Effects of Maternal Condition on Lactational Investment and Infant Outcome in Rhesus Macaques, California National Primate Research Center, Biobehavioral characterization of infant rhesus monkeys
OpenAlex ID: W2111289387