Did you know... 27 interesting facts about breastfeeding
I think that by now everyone who reads my posts will know that I am a breastfeeding champion. I even fed my child on two different TV chat shows, once by design and once by nesessity. One of my hero's is Larissa Waters, the Australian senator who famously breastfed her baby on the senate floor whilst delivering a speech. I literally stood up and applauded when I saw it on the news.
I was honoured to win Journalist of the Year award at the Friends of Breastfeeding Awards in 2019. So for anyone who likes interesting facts here my top 28 interesting facts about breastfeeding. How many did you know?Breastfeeding creates more dense tissue in the breasts. After breastfeeding, both fatty tissue and connective tissue can shrink, change size, or even make one breast seem larger than the other.
Larissa Waters in the Australian Parliament
Babies have a powerful sense of smell and can identify their mother's breast milk by scent.
Breastfeeding reduces the risk of breast cancer and ovarian cancer in mothers
Breast milk changes during a feeding session.
Breast milk has been called "liquid gold." (I use the term a lot!)
Researchers are trying synthesize a component in breast milk called HAMLET (human alpha-lactalbumin made lethal to tumor cells) that causes tumor cells to die
Breast milk has been used to treat burns, eye infections, diaper rash, and to reduce infection and promote healing in wounds
The World Health Organization and UNICEF have recommended that mothers breastfeed for at least two years. Most nursing mothers in the United States stop before their baby is six months old
A mother's breasts can gain up to two pounds each in preparation for feeding an infant.
In developed countries, breastfeeding reduces the risk of sudden infant deaths by over one-third.
In nearly 3/4 of new mothers, the right breast makes more milk than the left.
If all, or nearly all, new mothers breastfed, nearly 820,000 infant lives could be saved every year and 13% of all deaths in children under five could be prevented.
Children who are breastfed longer have been found to have higher intelligence than those who are breastfed for shorter periods of time.
The wealthier the country, the less likely mothers are to breastfeed.
Breastfeeding is one of the few health recommendations in which poorer countries are closer to WHO guidelines than rich countries.
Globally, approximately 40% of infants 0–6 months old are breastfed.
Formula-fed babies in less developed countries are up to 25 times more likely to die of diarrhea and four times more likely to die of pneumonia than a breastfed child.
Babies can only see about 15–18 inches away, which is the distance between a mother's face and her baby's face when breastfeeding.
During the newborn stage, the average breastfeeding session lasts between 20–45 minutes.
Women who have an unplanned pregnancy are less likely to breastfeed.
The United Kingdom has the lowest breastfeeding rates in the world, with only 0.5% of mothers still breastfeeding at one year. In comparison, 99% of mothers in Senegal breastfeed.
A woman's cup size doesn't determine the amount of milk she will produce. Milk production and storage depends on hormones.
Before infant formula was invented, a woman who did not breastfeed gave her children various concoctions, such as mushed bread and beer.
Infants cannot digest some parts of human milk, but healthy bacteria in their guts can. Scientists believe that mothers don't just nurse infants, but intestinal bacteria as well.
Breast milk reportedly tastes like "heavily sweetened almond milk" and smells like mild, sweet cow's milk. Its consistency is similar to watered-down cow's milk.
Mammy, the house slave in Gone with the Wind, wasn't just a servant who raised Scarlett O'Hara; she was also Scarlett's wet nurse.
Most mammalian milk contains around 30 to 50 different sugar molecules. Human milk has over 200.