Liquid Gold Can Come in Different Colors, Apparently!
This is one of the weirdest and coolest things I’ve ever seen!
We’ve all heard the term “liquid gold” in reference to breast milk, right?
It’s magical – it’s packed full of vital nutrients and antibodies that nourish and help our babies grow.
Breast milk also changes based on the baby’s needs .
But while breast milk is able to change composition and even flavor, I’ve never heard of it changing color! Up until now that is.
An Australian mom posted in a closed breastfeeding support group, looking for a bit of help with her colorful liquid gold.
During a nursing session with her toddler, she discovered that her normally white breast milk looked slightly … different.
By slightly, we mean completely.
Her milk was now a beautiful shade of fuchsia! The pink breast milk obviously confused the nursing Mom, which might be the understatement of the day.
The Mom snapped a photo to share with her group, and told the story of how she figured out caused her breast milk to go from its usual hue to Manic Panic pink.
Turns out, we really ARE what we eat!
Nursing Moms are urged to eat well while breastfeeding. But no one ever said they should mind the color of the food they eat…
The anonymous Mom took to her closed breastfeeding support group to share the pinkalicious tale .
She says that she first noticed something was wrong when her toddler was acting unusual during a nursing session. The Mother says her 16-month-old began pulling at her nipple saying, “more, more!”. The pulling caused some milk to splash out, and that’s when she noticed the color change.
The Mother expressed some more milk to see if the new hue stayed consistent. And sure enough, the expressed milk was the same shade of fuchsia.
A bit of panic set in, until the mama remembered what she’d had to eat. Over the course of the day, she’d had juice containing fresh beetroot, a salad sandwich with fresh beetroot, then topped it all off with a can of beets.
If you’ve ever eaten beets, you’d remember: they stain your fingers, and can turn your pee a lovely shade of pink Turns out, beets can also make pink breast milk!
Other members in the group urged her to try it, to see if it tasted off or different. The Mother took them up on their urging, and reported back that while she isn’t sure what her breast milk usually tasted like, this batch seemed to be particularly sweet. No wonder her toddler was asking for more!
Some members were a bit concerned that it was blood in her breast milk that caused it to turn pink. But the Mother said the color-change didn’t end with her pink breast milk. Both she and her daughter’s urine was also looking like it came from a rainbow.
Beets aren’t the only food that can change the color of breast milk. According to La Leche League International, breast milk can turn yellow, green, blue, even black. Some common foods which cause this are yams, carrots, and pumpkins.
And just in case there was any concern about the safety of breast milk that’s gone technicolor, it’s totally safe for babies to drink.
There really isn’t a “normal” color for breast milk to be. Pink breast milk sure is pretty!