Side-by-Side Photos of Breast Milk Pumped 3 Days Apart Prove Its Healing Magic

The mother went on to explain that in the photo, the milk on top — which is white — had been pumped while her daughter Elliot was completely healthy. The milk on the bottom, however — which has a deep yellow tint — was pumped after Ashlee had "comfort nursed" Elliot through the night while the little girl suffered through a fever. 

In an interview with Yahoo, Ashlee admitted that even she had trouble discerning the meaning of the color change in her breast milk at first. "I read before that your milk could change for different reasons, but I was so sleep-deprived that morning, I just thought there was something wrong with it," she said.

It wasn't until after she got in contact with her child's pediatrician that she was told that the milk's yellow coloring meant that her body had naturally added fat and antibodies to help little Elliot fight through an infection. "100 percent why. Top milk is from 3 days ago when a healthy Elliot was nursing. Bottom is from today, after sick Elliot with a fever comfort-nursed all night," her post read.

Luckily, the milk did its job perfectly. "The illness knocked my 7-year-old out for a week, but the baby only got a runny nose and a slight fever the night before I noticed the yellow," Ashlee told Yahoo.

Ashlee Chase isn't the first mother to notice these changes. In early 2016, another mother shared a photo of her changing breast milk colors. After the post went viral, it prompted many doctors and medical professionals to comment on the phenomenon. 

"When either a breastfeeding baby or a breastfeeding mother becomes ill, the percentage of infection-fighting white blood cells found in the breast milk increases up to 94 percent, more closely resembling the white blood cell composition found in colostrum," Dr. Jamil Abdur-Rahman, chairman of obstetrics and gynecology at Vista East Medical Center in Waukegan, Illinois, told Self. "It should be noted that whenever any fluid from the body contains a large amount of infection-fighting white blood cells or antibodies, it will assume a yellowish color that is very similar to what many people would call 'pus.'" 

With over 7,000 shares of her post, the mother says that she hadn't planned for it to go viral, but she's glad it did. After writing the post in hopes that others would have a better understanding of why she chooses to breastfeed, Ashlee says that she has received comments and messages from women who say that her post gave them the courage to try breastfeeding or continue to stick with it. 

Both incredible and informative, Ashlee Chase's breast milk photos are definitely proof that women's bodies are next-level awesome.