Interactive effects of parity and pup stress on the maternal behavior of Rattus norvegicus.
Litters of primiparous and multiparous rat mothers received 0,2, or 5 min of cold stress for the 1st 5 days postpartum. Primiparae showed increasing maternal responsiveness over the treatment period. Multiparae were initially maternally responsive to moderate stress cues from pups, but habituated to them over days. From Days 6 to 20, when pups were not stressed, lactation behavior of stressed groups declined in primiparous mothers but not in multiparous mothers.
D000818:Animals; D000831:Animals, Newborn; D001143:Arousal; D003080:Cold Temperature; D004327:Drinking Behavior; D005247:Feeding Behavior; D005260:Female; D006120:Grooming; D006185:Habituation, Psychophysiologic; D007774:Lactation; D008425:Maternal Behavior; D010298:Parity; D011247:Pregnancy; D051381:Rats; D013312:Stress, Physiological / Q000150:complications; D013997:Time Factors