Dysphoric milk ejection reflex to nipple/areolar stimulation, thoughts of the baby or of breastfeeding, or overfull breasts, travels through both brain and bloodstream, causing emotional changes in the brain and the release of milk in the breast. Prolactin, released in a gradual wave that peaks after the beginning of a feeding, is responsible for continued milk production. Dopamine inhibits the release of prolactin, so dopamine levels must drop in order for prolactin levels to rise. Some speculate that the necessary dopamine drop is similar to (and timed with) the oxytocin spike – a sort of negative image – but that in D-MER mothers it
Dysphoric milk ejection reflex information currently available on D-MER. Also available through the website are an online media presentation on YouTube, a Facebook group with a message board and a Facebook page that sends links to the latest online information about D-MER to members' news feeds. The first documented reference to a hormonally based negative emotional reaction while breastfeeding was found online in a forum in June 2004. Prior to the launch of D-MER.org the phenomenon was unknown, unnamed, misunderstood and rarely mentioned or talked about. The term dysphoric milk ejection reflex (D-MER) came from Alia Macrina Heise who was the first to identify