Article: Lactation

Kittens nursing

Lactation describes the secretion of milk from the mammary glands, the process of providing that milk to the young, and the period of time that a mother lactates to feed her young. The process occurs in all female mammals, and in humans it is called breastfeeding. Most milk comes out of the mother's nipples, however a platypus releases milk through ducts in its abdomen. Only one male mammal is known to produce milk, the Dayak fruit bat. Some other male mammals may produce milk as the result of a hormone imbalance (for instance Witch's milk).

Purpose

The chief function of lactation is to provide nutrition to the young after birth. In almost all mammals lactation, or more correctly the suckling stimulus, induces a period of infertility which serves to provide the optimal birth spacing for survival of the offspring.^[1]