Our bodies are just incredible – take a look at the evidence provided by this mum’s post on Facebook.
New mum Mallory Smothers from Arkansas accidentally discovered that our bodies really are capable of the most awesome things – and we barely ever even realise. Back in February she was breastfeeding her baby every few hours, and pumping out extra milk for the freezer, when she noticed something surprising about the milk she was pumping up when her little one had a cold.
The internet is crazy about this picture!
She explained on her Facebook post: "I pumped the milk on the left Thursday night before we laid down for bed. I nurse Baby every 2 hours or so overnight and don't pump until we get up for the day. I noticed in the wee hours of Friday morning, 3AM or so-- she was congested, irritable, and sneezing ALOT. Probably a cold, right?"
After feeding through the night, she pumped the second bag on the Friday morning.
She says "I didn't notice a difference until today, but look at how much more the milk I produced Friday resembles colostrum."
And so it does. Colostrum is the thick, yellowy milk which a mum produces in the days just after she’s given birth – and it’s jam packed with fat, protein, antibodies and all round goodness. Anyone who’s breastfed will be able to relate to the differences between those two pictures!
A mother's milk changes to respond to their baby's needs
Mallory remembered she had previously read an article explaining how the composition of a mother’s milk changes to provide for the baby’s needs, but didn’t expect to find actual evidence of this in her own freezer!
She remembered reading that when a baby nurses, the infant's saliva gets inside the mum’s breast and the mammary gland receptors are able to analyse a baby’s health. So then, as she says:"Mom's body will actually change the milk's immunological composition, tailoring it to the baby's particular pathogens by producing customized antibodies."
And it turns out this is all clinically backed up, with the Journal Nature officially finding that, it's true, and the composition of breastmilk changes depending on the baby's health.
Mallory’s post has been shared over 77,000 times on Facbeook, as people are loving finding out just how brilliant our bodies are. And no wonder: just a quick glance at the picture above shows you just how incredible the human body is – and that we are taking better care of our children than we will ever properly understand! Go mums!
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