Premature infants also benefit from their own mother's milk, but they may need additional nutritional support. Breast-feeding also benefits the nursing mother. It helps control maternal blood loss and helps her to regain her pre-pregnancy weight. Recent evidence suggests it reduces the risk of breast cancer. Mothers need special support at this time because the mother's ability to produce milk and deliver it to the baby can be affected by what goes on around her.
Special hormones cause milk to be produced and then delivered to the baby.
Prolactin is the hormone that controls milk production. Both these processes are stimulated by the baby's sucking. This is one reason why it is very important for the new baby to nurse often. The let down response is very sensitive. Stress, not enough rest, or even the suggestion that the baby is not getting enough milk can limit the let down response and affect the success of breast-feeding.