Breast milk can turn into a pinkish color due to colonization by Serratia marcescens, a species of rod-shaped gram-negative bacteria that produce a reddish-orange tripyrrole pigment called prodigiosin1 that has been related to a variety of diseases and even newborn deaths.
In most cases, it's safe or even helpful to continue breastfeeding if you see blood in your breast milk. This can sometimes be a sign of health problems for the mother, but it's not dangerous for babies. Some mothers find that blood in the breast milk causes babies to spit up more, but this is rarely cause for concern.
Pink, Red, or Rust
You may have a small amount of blood in your breast milk. Don't panic! Having blood in your breast milk is typically caused by a rupture in a blood capillary or cracked nipples, and is not harmful to your baby. In most cases, the bleeding will go away on its own in a few days.
It's also possible for milk to turn pinkish or brownish. That's often a sign of blood in the milk, usually due to cracked nipples or increased blood flow to the breasts, both of which can happen early on in breastfeeding. Occasionally, however, an underlying health problem can cause blood-tinged milk.
But the mastitis may also include other signs, like these: Flu-like symptoms like fever, chills, body aches, nausea, vomiting, or fatigue. Yellowish discharge from the nipple that looks like colostrum. Breasts that feel tender, warm, or hot to the touch and appear pink or red.
If you pump your milk you may see lots of variation in color: whereas formula milk always looks the same, the composition and appearance of human milk changes throughout the day, and even throughout a pumping session or feed. Breastmilk may be white, yellow, clear or have a blue tint to it.
Mastitis: Mastitis is a breast infection that can produce blood-tinged breast milk from the infected breast. Other symptoms such as redness, swelling, pain, and fever are usually present with mastitis.
You may be alarmed to find that you've suddenly pumped “strawberry milk” for your baby. Red or pink breast milk usually indicates that some blood has mixed in with the milk. According to RN and IBCLC lactation consultant Shantel Harlin, “Generally, blood in breast milk is not a contraindication for feeding your baby.
Any unusual color of a mother's breast milk is due mostly to her diet. For example, food dyes in foods or drinks can alter the color of breast milk. It may be thin and watery looking, and may have a blue or yellow tint to it. It can even take on a hint of green if large amounts of green colored foods are consumed.
The hormone prolactin is responsible for preventing menstruation. When you breastfeed, the levels of this hormone are high in your body. Because of this, you will probably not have your period or will experience only some light spotting while breastfeeding.
Freshly expressed or pumped milk can be stored: At room temperature (77°F or colder) for up to 4 hours. In the refrigerator for up to 4 days. In the freezer for about 6 months is best; up to 12 months is acceptable.
Mastitis usually only affects 1 breast, and symptoms often come on quickly. They include: a swollen area on your breast that may feel hot and painful to touch – the area may become red but this can be harder to see if you have black or brown skin. a wedge-shaped breast lump or a hard area on your breast.
A little blood in breast milk is not harmful to your breastfed baby and is a common occurrence in the first week or so after a baby's birth. Reasons for short periods of blood in breast milk include rusty pipe syndrome, cracked bleeding nipples, broken capillaries in the breast or an intraductal papilloma.
"There is a wide range of normal when it comes to color for breast milk," says Hali Shields, a certified birth and postpartum doula, national board-certified health and wellness coach, and certified lactation education counselor. "Blueish, yellow, cream, orange are all normal and safe for baby."
In the lactation world, strawberry milk is the term used to describe when blood from a mother's nipples enters into the expressed breast milk.
As soon as possible, pump 8-10 times every 24 hours. This is how many times each day your baby would typically feed from the breast. In most cases, the more times each day you pump, the more milk you make.
Stomach cramps: Babies using spoiled, expired, or lumpy breast milk can cause stomach cramps, bloating, bloating, upset stomach, and fussiness. Food poisoning: Often spoiled breast milk will be contaminated, causing the infant to be infected with bacteria and have diarrhea and vomiting.
You may have heard that there are all of these different types of breast milk – colostrum, transitional milk, mature milk, foremilk, and hindmilk.
How Long Should I Pump? In the beginning, when you are producing small amounts at each pump session, the session lasts for 10-15 minutes. Later, after your milk has “come in” abundantly, you should continue pumping past when the milk stops to flow for one to two minutes.
Coronavirus does not seem to spread to babies through breast milk. It's safe to breastfeed if you have COVID-19.
Your breast milk is safe for your baby even if you have mastitis, so continue to breastfeed or express from the affected breast. Place a heat pack or warm cloths on the sore area before feeding or expressing to help with your milk flow. If your milk is flowing easily then warm packs are not needed.