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Moms can attest that the relationship with your daughter is different than the one with your son. It's not that you love one more than the other though I have made statements to my boy/girl twins that whoever starts 100 percent pooping on the potty first will be the favorite, the one who I buy the pony or rocket ship for. I'm kidding. Sort of. They are two different beings, so the love is just it's own unique and groovy kind of one. Oh and yes, some people just like one kid more than the other when it comes to certain things.
Breastfeeding was different with both kids as well. Going through it at the same time with twins, made me really see how no two kids are alike, there's no one size fits all answer or solution on how to get a baby to latch, to sleep, to be soothed. The correlation is just different. A new study revealed a link between a mother's production of breastmilk and if her child was a boy or a girl. Guess who we produce more milk for? Hint: It's the one we like more.
Mothers produce more milk for their daughters. We lactate more for our little girls. Does this mean we like them more? Can we like one child more than the other? We want to nourish the one we like more?
But before we delve, this study was done on Holstein dairy cows. The mama cows produced much more milk for their little girls than their sons. From this study, researchers concluded that the gender of your child affects milk production. And they feel there is a relation to humans.
As I was reading the study, I thought that maybe it was because of the female hormones and a female's ability to produce milk combined to make milk production more productive in the mother. Or we just like our own kind more. Maybe? But then I thought of my own breastfeeding experience -- nursing twins. I had one breast that produced very well, and the other usually half of the other. My daughter had a hard time latching, and weaned herself first. My son, however, was an excellent nursling. If I had to guess, I'd say I produced more for my son since he was demanding it more, therefore I supplied. But perhaps the supply had more to do with the fact I had a daughter nursing at the same time. My son drank all the love milk I made for my daughter! And she still has 10 pounds on him!
The researchers feel it’s likely that hormones change things as they enter the bloodstream when baby is a fetus. That can change the mammary glands, and affect milk production. What's also to note is that if there is a daughter with the first pregnancy, even future pregnancies and breastmilk production could be affected and increased. Is this some sort of girl power thing? Some female bonding thing? Our mammary glands just seem to prefer other females and so they respond with reward, more milk.
Also, for the record, I love both my kids equally.
Was your milk production more favorable for your daughter or your son?
Image via Leigh Blackall/Flickr
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