Scientists had known for a long time that oxytocin was associated with the affectionate bonds between a mother and her new born baby.  Oxytocin thus quickly became known as the ‘Cuddle Hormone’, promoting touch, affection, protectiveness.  Recently, a plethora of new studies have associated oxytocin with everything from altruism to sexual attractiveness. Now, the possible role that oxytocin might play in making new fathers want to cuddle their babies has finally been investigated, and it appears, established.

Ruth Feldman, a psychology professor at an Israeli university and assistant professor at Yale, measured the oxytocin levels of 80 different couples and found that not only mothers but also fathers post increases after the birth of their child.

The more the men in the study cuddled their babies, the more their oxytocin levels rose. “It’s like a feedback loop,” Dr. Feldman says. “The more you touch, the more oxytocin you have; the more oxytocin, the more you touch. But you need to initiate this feedback loop, by holding and touching and kissing your baby.” Also, she found a link between the oxytocin levels of partners. Mothers’ levels predicted fathers’ levels later on, “as if fathers somehow get biologically attuned to their wives,” Dr. Feldman says.