Everyone knows not to get between a bear and her cubs, but if mama bears used bottles maybe they’d be a little more mellow.

A study published in the September issue of Psychological Science found that nursing mothers are roughly twice as aggressive as bottle-feeding moms and women without children when confronted by a threat.

“Maternal defense does not involve nursing mothers going out and looking for bar fights, but when they have a helpless baby, they’re more likely to defend themselves when the fight comes to them,” said Jennifer Hahn-Holbrook, a postdoctoral fellow at UCLA’s Department of Health Psychology.

Similar aggression has been observed in lactating monkeys, rats, mice, deer, hamsters, lions, prairie voles and sheep. When reading a book about how vicious predators become loveable moms, Hahn-Holbrook noticed that many of our preconceptions about mothers being quite docile were actually wrong for other species. She wondered if the same thing would hold true for humans.

She and other researchers recruited 18 nursing mothers, 17 women who were feeding formula to their babies and 20 non-mothers. The women were told they’d be playing a competitive computer game against a research assistant posing as a rude and aggressive study participant. When the women “won” a round of the game, each got to choose how long and loudly they would blast their opponent with an annoying sound.

After accounting for other differences, the researchers found that breast-feeding mothers delivered sound blasts to the rude opponent that were more than twice as loud and long as those administered by non-mothers and nearly twice as loud and long as those by bottle-feeding mothers.

The study suggests that lactation—and not just motherhood in general—kicks maternal protection into overdrive. During the confrontations, for instance, nursing moms exhibited lower blood pressure levels than the other two groups of women. That can actually dampen fear and stress responses and give them a little extra moxie to defend their offspring, the study concluded.

“We interpreted this as breastfeeding being nature’s way of helping moms calmly but effectively deal with potential threats,” Hahn-Holbrook said. But in a day and age when we’re not exactly likely to be chased by saber-toothed tigers, does the aggression factor add any benefit?

“That’s completely beyond the scope of our study, but I’m sure there are plenty of contexts in which moms could use a little extra help in that regard,” she said. “This wouldn’t just come up in terms of predators but might also encourage a mom to run back into a burning building and save an infant. I definitely think that moms generally are inspired to do that, but I wonder if lactation would just give moms a little extra push and a little extra courage.”

Hayley Baxter / Getty Images stock

Seriously, Mom?

When we asked for your mom secrets and confessions, some answers were truly shocking… shockingly HILARIOUS.

Yes, our TODAY Moms and Parenting.com survey of 26,000 moms discovered moms feeling overwhelmed, desperate, judgmental and tired.

But a lot of you are having fun with this whole parenting thing. Many moms handle the stress with a healthy dose of humor and creativity. From imaginary toy-stealing gnomes to interesting interpretations of the food pyramid, we salute these moms for helping us recognize that no one’s perfect, and sometimes all you can do is laugh!

Here are our favorite answers to the survey question, “What’s your biggest parenting secret or confession?”

Best performance by an actress in a mommy role:
Handing the baby to my husband, and then acting surprised that she was full of poop. Done that many a time!

So maybe they won’t be firefighters:
I don't have the energy or discipline at the end of the day to get my kids to pick up their toys.  Instead I made up a fictional dwarf that lives in fire hydrants and takes kids’ toys when they are left out at night.  It works!  They pick up their toys but they also hate fire hydrants.

Sha la la la la, that’s my story and I’m sticking to it:
I still insist to my daughter (now 13) that I'm friends with Van Morrison and he wrote the song "Brown Eyed Girl" for me.

Read more: The TODAY Moms editor spills her secrets

Effective, but don’t send us the therapy bills.
My three year old is terrified of bees, so every time I need her to come inside off the patio I tell her "the bees are coming! The bees are coming!" And it works every single time.

If only this mom had negotiated the debt ceiling agreement:
I encouraged my toddler to give up her pacifier at nighttime by promising her popsicles for breakfast. :)

Top 10 juiciest mom confessions from our new partner, Parenting.com

Eat your heart out, Martha Stewart:
Blame the messy house on my kids, when I know I was just too lazy to clean anything up.

Just like Dr. Seuss, except with a few more F-bombs
I taught my son to read to Eminem lyrics.

Santa and I are close personal friends:
I lie to my kids and tell them Santa Claus watches them from the air conditioning vent.

I told my children that I used to be an elf at the North Pole working for Santa until I got fired by a mean elf named Robin.  It kept them believing when faith was waning. 

Read more: My mom confession? I took your kid to see a racy movie

Teething toy, drool catcher… is there nothing beer cannot do?
I let my infant soothe her teething gums with a cold beer bottle. She sits in my lap with me holding the bottle and she rubs her gums on the opening of the bottle. It's an empty bottle that I keep cold just for her. It's her favorite teether and a great drool catcher.

And broccoli gives you magic powers!
If you eat all of your green beans you will turn into a princess.

Can I have dinner at your house?
Sometimes I give my kids Oreos for dinner because I'm too tired to go through the challenge of finding something that they will both like and eat.

Read more: The Mom-Judging Olympics: A competition nobody meant to enter

Sorry, nope, no more diapers.
I was frustrated with potty training, and I lied to my daughter and told her that they didn't make diapers anymore.

And my dust bunnies have never been crisper!
Monster spray - kids had nightmares, and difficulty falling asleep, so I used spray starch (before they could read) as "Monster Spray” - would spray under the bed in and the closet - it worked very well.

Who are these short people, and why are they calling me Mommy?
My 3 year old got her nickname because I couldn't remember her name the day after bringing her home from the hospital....so I sat on the couch looking at this little stranger who was a part of me crying and just called her "Goober."

Fun with body parts.
My kids still call their big toe the "head honcho" because of me and I just don't have the heart to tell them that's not what it's called, it's too cute.

Moms confess to medicating kids for some peace and quiet

And finally, we salute this mom with the Honesty Award for Creative Discipline:
I don't have any lies or secrets.  I let people know all my crazy stuff.  Nothing to hide.  So I'll tell one of my crazy tactics.  One day my two boys were picking at each other all day.  They are 18 months apart and were 8 and 10 at the time.  They just wouldn’t leave each other alone and could not get along for anything.  So I took an arm from each of them -- one left arm, one right arm -- and tied them together with a robe belt.  I told them they had to stay that way for an hour and figure out how to get along with each other.  If they got worse, I'd add on another hour.  One sulked the entire time while the other listened to his CD player.  But they quit poking, picking and talking badly to each other.  If they got that way again, I'd remind them, "Do I need to tie you two together?"  My family would look at me like I was crazy until I explained the story.

Top that, moms! What's the funniest fib you ever told your kid?

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Yes, kids say some funny and outrageous things. But so do their moms! Why do those little scamps get all the credit for being cute and witty, when we come out with just as many crazy and crazy-funny statements?

Upon becoming a mom, one expects to say things like, "If I have to tell you one more time…" and "Because I said so! That's why." But I’m willing to bet that no mom ever expected that she would ever utter the phrase "It's pronounced orange, not orgy."

Every so often, the blogosphere erupts in a round of "I can't believe I just said (fill in the blank) to my kids." Here are some of our recent favorites, culled from parenting message boards and blogs around the web and conveniently organized into categories. While there seems to be a lot of licking and pooping going on, we're happy to report we didn't come across any that involved the licking of the poop, though we suspect one of our readers might have a gem along those lines to share.

Table Manners
Somehow, we highly doubt Emily Post would have been ready to address some of the dining etiquette situations many of our mom friends have faced. While the fortunate among us are able to get by with, "Elbows off the table, please," the rest of us say things like:

• "Take your finger out of your butt and eat." - April
• "Don't take your penis out at the dinner table." - cute_mama88 
• "Get your feet out of the Jell-O!" Chrissey  

Licking
When it comes to licking, parents expect to say  "Quick. Lick that ice cream cone before it drips everywhere." What they don't expect to say:

• "Stop licking the walls!" - Mike
• "Please stop licking my tattoo, it doesn't wipe off." - Mrs. Lampshade 
• "Let's not kiss the garbage can, okay?" - Dana

Dogs
Dogs may be man's best friend, but they're also toddlers’ best playmates. With our canine companions, moms are prepared to tell kids "Don't pull the dog's tail." They're a little less prepared for :

Getty Images stock

Dogs and kids make for many a funny Mom comment.

• "Do NOT share your paci with the dog." - kerwolfe712
• "Give the dog her food back and eat your own lunch!" - shaysmommy5810
• "I told you before, I don’t like it when you put my deodorant on the dog." - Dana
• "Please don't use mommy's hairbrush on the dog." - Deirdre

Licking Dogs
We've established that kids like to lick. We also know that kids like their pets. Yet somehow, it never occurred to us how much kids would like to lick their pets.  Our favorite on this subject.

• "You know you aren’t allowed to lick the dog’s ear. Seriously, stop licking the dog’s ear. … Uh huh, yes, I know she licks your ear.  No… you still can’t lick her ear." - Julia

Mommy's Rack
Aah, breasts. They're endlessly fascinating, functional and fun -- no matter how old you are. While we might expect to explain that "Girls have breasts, boy's don't" or "Some mommies have milk in their breasts to feed their babies with," we certainly didn't expect to find ourselves saying:

• "Your boobies might get as big as mine, or they might stay small. Like Grandma's." - April
• "Please don't grab my boobs. Those are mine now." (My youngest. He is done breastfeeding but still obsessed with the boobs.) - Rebekkah
• "My nose is not a nipple, there's no milk in there." CBearsMamma Baby

Everybody Poops (and pees, and talks about it -- a lot)
It's pretty much a given that you'll have a few BM discussions as a mom, but most likely thought it would be limited to saying "Here's your new potty chair. From now on you'll go pee-pee and poo-poo in this." Oh, how delightfully sanitary compared to the real world comments like:

• " Oh Thank God, it's chocolate not poop!!" -  ericadorsey83
• "Please tell me that's dirt on your face." - Dana (said while at the dog park)
• "Your dirty diaper is not a baby, stop cuddling it!" - Emily Kroeker  
• "We don't drink toilet water!!!!" - ajbrownies  
• "Yes, I know, you don’t have to show me, Mommy knows where to wipe after going pee-pee, thank you." - Happiness After Heartache 

Say What?!
Then, there are those things we say that defy categorization. All we can say to these is, huh?!

• "It's pronounced "orange" not "orgy."" - Mrs. Lampshade
• " Fine!  That's fine!  Ride your bike naked but don't cry to me when your little peanut gets hurt." - The Dawning of January
• "How the hell did the toothpaste get up THERE?!" - Claudia

What about you? What's the craziest thing you've found yourself saying to your kids?

Dana Macario is a TODAY Moms contributor and Seattle mom to two sleep-depriving toddlers. She is currently developing an alarm clock that will start an IV coffee drip 10 minutes prior to wake-up time. Once properly caffeinated, she also blogs at www.18years2life.com.

More TODAY Moms content:

Is maternity lingerie hot? Or not?

Jennifer Weiner: Toughest part of being a writer mom is sharing imagination

Post-baby sex? Do we REALLY have to?

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Every working mom learns how to juggle different identities, going from business meetings to bedtime negotiations, from high heels to sweat pants. Actress and mom Mayim Bialik writes about getting "glammed up" for her job, and discovering who she really is as a mom. Can you relate?

Denise Herrick Borchert

My current job involves being a professional person in show business who pretends to be Amy Farrah Fowler on "The Big Bang Theory." My job also includes social events, publicity gatherings and parties where my photograph will be taken and I have to look a certain way to be considered "appropriate" in my industry. This is a tall order by itself, but my added blessing and challenge is that I have two sons who act like a string; no matter where I go, I am connected to them and find them pulling me back to them all of the time, sometimes just in mind if not body.

I have three principle identities I assume.

Identity #1 is mom.It is the "me" I feel I am no matter what. So no matter what I am wearing or doing, underneath the make-up and the clothes is just Mayim the mom. Mayim who, in her spare moments at the Golden Globes party or in the bathroom at the Perez Hilton party, is remembering what she needs at the market and how she forgot to use that last avocado which is going to be rotten when her son Fred asks for it tomorrow. That's baseline Mayim.

Identity #2 is working Mayim.That's the me who goes to work dressed in a big-girl bra and make-up and high heels and has social time with adults after years of barely talking to adults except about nursing, pottying and nutrition. Working Mayim pumps every 2-3 hours and texts the husband to check in and make sure no one had a meltdown, and if they did, working Mayim wants all of the details, unless the meltdown is currently going on, in which case the husband texts "can't talk." Then that Mayim will sit and bite her nails wondering if this is going to be the meltdown that ends all meltdowns (it never is), while she sits in a tiny dressing room unable to do anything or hold anyone or nurse away tears. This Mayim has a picture of her boys in her wallet that she looks to when she pumps, and she keeps the notes that say in a 5-year-old's writing, "i know it [sic] boring when you work. i love you. i miss you mama."

Identity #3 is glamour Mayim.This is the Mayim that has to (gets to!?) wear foundation, lip liner, and cover up, not just the mascara, liner, and lip gloss that working Mayim can get away with. Glamour Mayim sometimes pays skilled professionals hundreds of dollars to create her "look." This Mayim chooses outfits for events based on whether she will be able to nurse in them. This Mayim chooses a purse based on whether she needs to bring the breast pump. This Mayim is the one who misses her boys most, because this Mayim feels farthest from her children. They know it, too: Fred will cry when he sees glamour mama's hair (usually, significantly different from the hairdos of baseline mama or working mama). Her other son Miles will remark that glamour mama smells different. Glamour Mayim looks pretty good; she is told "no one would think you have had two kids!" (as if "looking like you have had two kids" is a bad thing...). Glamour Mayim can't get down on her hands and knees to wipe up a missed pee from the floor, or use her sleeve to tend to a runny nose, or sweep a crying dirt-covered child into her arms if that is what is called for. Because it would mess up the dress, the hair, the make-up, and the nail polish just applied. Glamour Mayim is high maintenance, and that's just plain unusual to the children involved.

I think all mothers shift identities, especially if we work. The climate of your workplace will, to a large extent, determine how integrated you can be. At "The Big Bang Theory," I am the only cast member with children, so I feel very different. People are interested in my life, but I also know that Jim Parsons (who plays "Sheldon") may not be terribly interested in the details of Elimination Communication, the recent politics of our homeschooling group, or the protein concentration of Trader Joe's versus Whole Foods' whole wheat penne pasta noodles. I have found I need to gauge my audience when I share my mom identity. Sometimes it feels disappointing not to be able to talk about my kids all day, but this is where the challenge of re-integrating comes in. I no longer have an infant strapped to me who announces my identity. I am now Mayim again.

Mayim, with the children who are at home with their loving father. Mayim, who is working to make money to buy the things we need and the things we want. Mayim, who doesn't need to talk about her kids all day because it's not the time or the place; and they are a part of her heart forever whether she talks about them or not.

I try to transition gently when I leave the house on the mornings I work. I try to take a moment every day to tell my sons how much I truly love them. I look them in the eye. I let them break my gaze. I let them feel just a little bit uneasy about how much mama is in their face getting all emotional about loving them. They still are sad that I leave them, but they also get to feel connected with me, and that recharges everyone's battery.

"When will you be done working, not just for the summer, mama, but forever?" Miles asked me last week. I hesitated, because I had to consciously choose the "right" identity to answer. Working Mayim might have said how important it is to have money, and how this is simply my job and we should be grateful I have it. But baseline Mayim got to acknowledge that I am missed when I am gone. They miss the Mama who is notscrubbed clean and made up pretty. They miss the Mama who wears her grandmother's housedress and is not afraid to wipe up any spill, ever. They miss the Mama who wakes up Dada to help escort a cricket outside. They miss frustrated, overwhelmed, funny, silly, Lego-building, piano-playing, granola-making, sloppy, clumsy Mama.

The moments of being all of those things are what carry me through the other identities I take on. The connection to my sons is the most precious one I have been given on this planet, and the love I feel for them gets me to publicity events all dolled up, and it gets me to remember we are out of kale, and it gets me to smile confidently on the red carpet, and it gets me home as quick as I can, grateful for moments shared with adults at fancy events sipping cocktails and eating hors d'oeuvres, but missing the warm kisses and hot breath on my neck of the boys I have been given to raise into men.

This connection is the string that connects me to them and will forever. It is the string that tethers me to them, the reminder of who I really am: the baseline Mayim that is the only person I ever have to be -- fully, completely, faithfully, and lovingly.

Mayim Bialik starred in the early-1990s television show “Blossom” and currently appears on the CBS sitcom “The Big Bang Theory.” She earned a Ph.D. in neuroscience from UCLA in 2007, and wrote her thesis on Prader-Willi syndrome. The spokesperson for the Holistic Moms Network and a certified lactation educator, Bialik is writing a book about attachment parenting, and she has two sons, Miles, 5, and Frederick, 2. She blogs regularly at TODAYMoms.com.

Want more Mayim? Read her blog at Kveller.com. 

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Volunteering at her daughter's kindergarten class is a rare treat for one busy TODAY show producer -- until it turned into a working-mom guilt ambush. When guilt gets the best of us, maybe it's time to turn to the real experts: our kids. 

Alicia Ybarbo

TODAY show producer Alicia Ybarbo and her daughter, Lucy.

As a career mom with two small children, I regularly find myself trying to balance school activities and my work schedule. Because I'm usually at Studio 1A early in the morning, I hadn’t been able to volunteer to be a "Mystery Reader" at my daughter's kindergarten class. Little did I know that once I got the chance, it would turn into a defining moment of working mom guilt.

As Mystery Reader, you enter the classroom while hiding your face with poster board. The class then guesses whose parent they think it is. Not two seconds after I walked into the classroom, the kids yelled in unison, "That's Lucy's mommy!"  Wow!  Maybe my coat or shoes gave me away. When I asked how they guessed so quickly, they all shouted, "'Cuz you're never here!" Process of elimination.

My face went blank. The teacher's face turned red. After a gasp of disappointment, I quickly transitioned to an exuberant reading of "Lyle the Crocodile." But I left feeling defeated. I left feeling like a horrible mom. Thoughts raced through my mind even as I scanned my BlackBerry for emails on the bus ride to work. Am I not there enough? How many times are the other moms Mystery Readers? My emotion turned to anger. Then the anger turned to guilt.

I can no longer use my fingers and toes to count the number of times I've experienced guilt. I am well on my way into triple digits. As a full-time working mom, I'm only able to spend a little time each weekday with my children. The guilt can be overwhelming at times.

My kids are 6 and 8 years old. That means I've had several years to deal with this. Guilt and me, we're like old buddies. I usually know how to shake it off, but there are moments when it gets the best of me. Mystery Reader day was one of those days.

Returning home from work that evening, I sat down with Lucy to ask her about Mystery Reader day. It turns out she loved the books that I read to the class (which included "Mommy's High Heel Shoes" about a working mom.) She had a beautiful smile on her face and was so happy that I had come. When I asked about the "you're never here!" comment she seemed totally uninterested, and just wanted to sit on the couch and read more. To her, it wasn't an issue. That was all I needed to know before we were off to something else. Talking to her quickly erased the mountain of working mom guilt.

As it turned out, I had stumbled into doing the right thing. In pre-interviewing one of my on-air guests, "The Mom Complex" think tank founder Katherine Wintsch, she shared that we often find ourselves living up to the wrong definition of what makes a good mom. It pays to ask your child what makes a good mom, because they'll tell you what really matters. Sounds like someone speaking from experience.

What's your story of working mom guilt?

Related vote: Do you feel guilty checking work email when you're with your kids?

TODAY Moms/iVillage survey: Working moms, tell us how you feel

Guilty as charged: One mom's confessions

Alicia Ybarbo is a working mom, TODAY show producer and TODAY Moms contributor. She is co-author of "Today's Moms: Essentials for Survivng Baby's First Year."

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“The clock was ticking and the boyfriends weren’t clicking.” It’s a quote from one of the moms profiled in the video clip below that rather tidily sums up why more and more women have decided to embark on motherhood on their own. Via artificial insemination and adoption, aspiring moms-to-be are deciding to move ahead with their plans to become parents without waiting to meet suitable mates. Despite both the challenges of single parenting and the threat of the stigma from portions of society that may be slow to accept such a choice, many women see single motherhood as their most viable option.

Parents, what are your thoughts on this phenomenon? What advice do you have for mothers who choose this path? Watch the video here and share your impressions in the comment section.

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Alastair Grant / AP file

J.K. Rowling

As ample proof that yes, maybe you can indeed have it all, Newsweek collected an inspiring gallery of real women who went from being financially-compromised stay-at-home moms to becoming successful movers and shakers.  Through inspiration, ambition, persistence and hard work, these mothers are now all prosperous and, in some cases, household names. Click here to view the list.

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