| Title |
Lactation and Fertility
|
|---|---|
| Published in |
Journal of Mammary Gland Biology and Neoplasia, July 1997
|
| DOI | 10.1023/a:1026340606252 |
| Pubmed ID | |
| Authors |
Alan S. McNeilly |
| Abstract |
In almost all mammals lactation, or more correctly the suckling stimulus, induces a period of infertility designed to provide the optimal birth spacing for survival of the offspring. The duration of lactational infertility depends on the sucking activity of the young with little evidence to support a role for nutritional status. Suckling disrupts the normal pulsatile pattern of hypothalamic gonadotrophin releasing hormone (GnRH)2 secretion resulting in reduced LH secretion from the pituitary. Secretion of FSH returns to its normal cyclic pattern early in lactation and ovarian follicles may develop under its influence. However, until suckling declines, the follicles fail to secrete amounts of estradiol adequate to stimulate an LH surge and ovulation. The suckling stimulus may affect GnRH secretion by affecting prolactin, opiate and dopaminergic tone in the hypothalamus but no unifying mechanism has yet been proposed convincingly. The birth spacing effects of breastfeeding in women have a profound effect on infant well-being, and breastfeeding still prevents more pregnancies than all forms of artificial contraception. |
Mendeley readers
The data shown below were compiled from readership statistics for 63 Mendeley readers of this research output. Click here to see the associated Mendeley record.
Geographical breakdown
| Country | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| Denmark | 1 | 2% |
| Australia | 1 | 2% |
| Unknown | 61 | 97% |
Demographic breakdown
| Readers by professional status | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| Researcher | 11 | 17% |
| Student > Ph. D. Student | 8 | 13% |
| Student > Master | 8 | 13% |
| Student > Bachelor | 8 | 13% |
| Student > Doctoral Student | 5 | 8% |
| Other | 10 | 16% |
| Unknown | 13 | 21% |
| Readers by discipline | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| Medicine and Dentistry | 13 | 21% |
| Nursing and Health Professions | 8 | 13% |
| Agricultural and Biological Sciences | 8 | 13% |
| Social Sciences | 6 | 10% |
| Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology | 2 | 3% |
| Other | 14 | 22% |
| Unknown | 12 | 19% |
Attention Score in Context
This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 3. This is our high-level measure of the quality and quantity of online attention that it has received. This Attention Score, as well as the ranking and number of research outputs shown below, was calculated when the research output was last mentioned on 28 September 2020.
All research outputs
#8,534,976
of 25,374,647 outputs
Outputs from Journal of Mammary Gland Biology and Neoplasia
#149
of 384 outputs
Outputs of similar age
#9,362
of 28,362 outputs
Outputs of similar age from Journal of Mammary Gland Biology and Neoplasia
#2
of 3 outputs
Altmetric has tracked 25,374,647 research outputs across all sources so far. This one is in the 43rd percentile – i.e., 43% of other outputs scored the same or lower than it.
So far Altmetric has tracked 384 research outputs from this source. They typically receive a little more attention than average, with a mean Attention Score of 5.2. This one is in the 35th percentile – i.e., 35% of its peers scored the same or lower than it.
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We're also able to compare this research output to 3 others from the same source and published within six weeks on either side of this one.