In case you didn't know it, the human body is fascinating. Scratch that — the female body is all sorts of amazeballs. Mallory Smothers is an Arkansas mom whose photo of breast milk changing to fit baby's needs is gaining a ton of attention.
During a late-night breastfeeding session, Mallory noticed her LO was congested and showing signs of sickness. Pumping breast milk later that morning, Mallory found herself doing a double take. It had only been one day since she last pumped her liquid gold, and boy, was there a noticeable difference.
Yellow in color, her breast milk resembled colostrum, or "first milk," that a mother gets in the early days of breastfeeding.
That's when a lightbulb went off in her head.
As Mallory explains, it's just an awesome wonder of science — that allows Mom's milk to better accommodate the needs of her sick baby.
Here's more of what Mom had to say:
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, 3 AM or so– she was congested, irritable, and sneezing ALOT. Probably a cold, right?
When we got up Friday morning, I pumped, just as we always do. What I pumped is on the right side of the photo.
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Pretty cool, huh?
As it turns out, what Mallory noticed is has an explanation
Published in the journal Clinical & Translational Immunology is a study that looks at how a mother's milk supply will produce leukocytes to help battle infections. Researchers note that colostrum typically has a high amount of these disease-fighting cells that decrease as Mom's breast milk matures.
What's interesting, however, is what happens should a mother and/or baby get sick.
Infection can enter Mom's body through baby saliva that sends the signal something is wrong. As Mallory's awesome photo illustrates, when baby's immune system is compromised, a mother will start to produce breast milk that's high in leukocytes — sometimes as much as 95 percent. Once the child is no longer sick, the leukocytes level begins to decrease.
More from The Stir: 4 Surprising Health Benefits of Breastfeeding — for Moms
I'm sorry, but this is pretty badass if I do say so myself. Mom is truly Wonder Woman, who can prevent chaos in her household, maintain a daily schedule, and save the day with breast milk that adapts to help protect her child.
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Yeah, we're awesome.
Image via Mallory Smothers/Facebook
