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 and describe the phenomenon to lactation professionals in 2007. It was chosen due to the emotional reaction (dysphoria) to milk let-down (milk ejection reflex). The "milk ejection reflex" is abbreviated among lactation professionals and referred to as the M-E-R. This means that D-MER is not said DEE-MERE, but rather D.M.E.R, all the letters names said individually. In 2008 a team of lactation consultants, headed up by Diane Wiessinger, MS, IBCLC, LLLL worked together and consulted with other medical professionals to do a preliminary investigation to better understand D-MER. After the first published case study of D-MER, it became a more