00:00Hello there! Welcome to the second episode of Putting Dr G on the Spot in the month of August
00:05when we're talking about International Breastfeeding Awareness Week in conjunction
00:11with how breastfeeding can affect sexual health.
00:20In fact, some people think that breastfeeding is actually independent of sexual health.
00:25That's completely wrong because during the breastfeeding period,
00:28there are two hormones that actually are acting up and these hormones will have an impact on
00:34sexual arousal and also sexual health. For example, one of them is called Prolactin. Prolactin actually
00:42is released during lactation and then that itself will have an impact because it will reduce the
00:48oestrogen production as a result of that may cause dryness in the vagina and also loss of interest in
00:55the actual sexual desire, hence low libido. And that Prolactin release can carry on for a period of
01:03time and therefore women might not be so interested in sexual activity during breastfeeding time.
01:10The other one which is called Oxytonein. Oxytonein is a rewarding kind of hormone
01:16it's released in the brain and most people will think that that will probably enhance arousal. Yes,
01:22but at the same time it will also enhance the rewardness for actually breastfeeding. As a result
01:28of that, women may not be so actually more arousally inclined but more rewarded in the effect of the
01:37actual breastfeeding. Therefore, oxytonein itself may not play a real role. But the key most important
01:44thing probably is nothing to do with hormone. It's because when somebody is breastfeeding after postpartum
01:51and the individual will be very tired, exhausted, waking up in the middle of the night and that
01:57itself, lack of sleep, dehydration and exhaustion itself probably will dampen your sexual desire than
02:04anything. The good news is that all of these will be actually very short-lived and most people actually
02:11recover and resume their normal sexual activity within a few weeks of cessation of the actual lactation.
02:18So therefore, don't be so worried if there's a bit of a dampening effect after breastfeeding.
02:24But that itself seems to be transient and self-resolving. For the following week on the 12th of August,
02:31we are actually observing International Youth Day and what we are thinking about will be something
02:38is to do with youth which is cancer prevention in youth and specifically cancer related to HPV.
02:46So stay tuned for next week's Putting Dr. G on the Spot.
02:50Thank you for joining us today.
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