Friday Facts - Breastfeeding

For this edition of Friday Facts, I've decided to focus on breastfeeding. There are two main reasons for this: #1, August is National Breastfeeding Month; and #2, I'm ashamed of my home state of Kentucky for not standing up for the rights of breastfeeding mothers.

Yesterday at a McDonald's in Berea, Kentucky, a breastfeeding mother was asked to leave the restaurant because she was nursing her 4 month old son. I'm appalled at law enforcement and the McDonald's Corporation; no wonder Kentucky ranks 50th when it comes to pro-breastfeeding states!

Breastfeeding Facts:

--Breastfeeding will help your uterus shrink back to prepregnancy size more quickly, which will in turn reduce the flow of lochia (postpartum discharge) more rapidly. (Clapclapbaby.com)

--Breastfeeding may lower a child's blood pressure later in life. (Breastfeeding.com)

--Breast-fed babies have fewer gastrointestinal infections. (Medline Plus)

--Babies who are breastfed have fewer illnesses and are better nourished than those who are fed other drinks and foods. (Unicef.org)

--Reduces exposure to harmful chemicals in plastic nipples and bottles. (The Labor of Love)

--Breastfeeding reduces a mother's risk of breast, ovarian, cervical and uterine cancer. (The Labor of Love)

--Breastfeeding gives infants all the nutrients they need for healthy development. It is safe and contains antibodies that help protect infants from common childhood illnesses - such as diarrhoea and pneumonia, the two primary causes of child mortality worldwide. (WHO International)

--Breastfed babies have a lower risk for Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS). (ISDH)

--Human milk contains just the right amount of fatty acids, lactose, water, and amino acids for human digestion, brain development, and growth. (FDA)

--Human milk contains at least 100 ingredients not found in formula. No babies are allergic to their mother's milk, although they may have a reaction to something the mother eats. (FDA)

--Premature babies do better when breastfed compared to premature babies who are fed formula. (Women's Health)

--Breastfeeding can protect your baby from developing allergies. (Baby Center)


As a former breastfeeder of three children, my hat's off to all breastfeeding moms and their babies.

Fun Friday Facts About Left-Handers

In honor of my red-headed hubby - whom I love with all my heart - today's Fun Friday Facts revolves around red-heads:

--Red hair is seen on the heads of only 4% of the population. However, the highest percentage of natural redheads in the world is in Scotland (13%), followed closely by Ireland with 10%. In the US, between 2% - 4% of the population are natural redheads.

--A 2002 study found that red-heads are harder to sedate than any other people requiring 20% more anesthesia. Inadequate doses cause people to wake up during surgery and have increased recall of procedures. (Yikes!)

--Adults have about 120,000 hairs on their head; redheads have fewer, blondes have more, brunettes have the most. (My hubby can vouch for this!)

--Red-headedness is, genetically speaking, a recessive trait. It may appear after several generations of darker hair. (So don't think you're out of the woods because you have dark hair.)

--Red-heads don't turn grey. Red hair turned sandy, then white. (Lucky red-heads!)

--Red hair is a genetic mutation. (Sounds like something from a Sci-Fi movie.)

--The Egyptians regarded red-heads as so unlucky that they had a ceremony in which they burned red-headed maidens alive to wipe out the tint. (Glad hubby's not Egyptian - or a maiden, for that matter!)

--An Irish judge in 2001 fined a man for disorderly conduct stating, “I am a firm believer that hair coloring has an effect on temper and your coloring suggests you have a temper.” (Maybe the judge was drunk? Maybe I should do Fun Facts about the Irish?)

--Adolph Hitler reportedly banned the marriages of two red-heads as he feared their children would be “deviant offspring”. (Already knew Hitler was crazy, just more facts to back this up.)

--“I'll beat you like a redheaded stepchild”. This phrase was born out of the American south and implies the status of illegitimate offspring with a white master. (I had no idea where this saying originated! I'll be more careful when using this phrase in the future.)

--In German culture, from 1483-1784, thousands of red-heads were suspected witches and were tortured and murdered, usually by burning at the stake or by drowning.

--Harvard dermatologist, Madhu Pathak, calls redheads “three-time losers” because their red pigment is an inadequate filter of sunlight and their skin is more susceptible to sunburn, skin cancer and wrinkling with age.

--Redheads generally are more numerous in northern latitudes.

Fun Friday Facts About Left-Handers

My youngest daughter gave me the idea for this week's Fun Friday Facts - being left-handed she is a walking encycolpedia of fun facts concerning left-handers.

--On a left-handed person, the nails tend to grow faster on the left hand than on the right hand.

--There is a high tendency in twins for one to be left-handed (my dad is a twin and he is left-handed; however, my daughter is NOT a twin).

--People who are left handed make up about 5 to 15 percent of the population. There are more men than women who are lefties.

--According to SAT results, left-handed students have higher math scores than right-handed students do.

--Benjamin Franklin signed the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution with his left hand.

--A left-handed individual may be known as a southpaw, particularly in a sports context.

--In 2006, a Johns Hopkins University study found that left-handed men are 15 percent richer than right-handed men for those who attended college, and 26 percent richer if they graduated.

--Guitar great Jimi Hendrix played a right-handed Fender Stratocaster strung upside down to accommodate his left-handedness.

--The only astronaut to fly in all three space programs, Mercury, Gemini and Apollo, was left-handed Wally Schirra.

--There have only been 7 left-Handed U.S. Presidents: James A. Garfield (1831-1881), Herbert Hoover (1874-1964), Harry S. Truman (1884-1972), Gerald Ford (1913-2006), Ronald Reagan (1911 - 2004), George H.W. Bush (1924-), and Bill Clinton (1946-).

--Officials in Mensa - the high IQ society - believe as many as 20% of their members are left-handed.

--Studies have shown that left-handers are more likely to have allergies than right-handers.

--In Japan, there was a time when a wife being left-handed was grounds for a divorce.

--On a carousel, the brass ring is always on the rider's right side.


Don't forget to celebrate International Left-Handers Day on August 13th.

Fun Friday Facts

Today I'm giving you some fun facts about Kentucky. If people enjoy these fun facts, I may start doing them each Friday. So if you like them, let me know!

--Kentucky comes from a Cherokee word meaning Land of Tomorrow or Meadowland.

--Can't function without your Post-it® notes (and I for one am lost without them)? You can thank the workers at the 3M plant in Cynthiana, Kentucky, where the handy notes are produced.

--In 1998, the town of Rabbit Hash, Kentucky, elected a dog named Goofy as their mayor. The tiny town charged $1 per vote and proceeds went to restore a local church.

--Thomas Edison chose Louisville's 1883 Southern Exposition to demonstrate his incandescent light bulb for the first time.

--The largest amount of gold stored anywhere in the U.S. (approximately $6 billion worth) is held in the underground vaults of the United States Bullion Depository at Fort Knox. (Wish I was a member of the Ocean's 11 gang!)

--Louisville has more restaurants per capita than any other U.S. city.

--Lexington's Jif Peanut Butter factory produces more of this sticky, buttery, pea-nutty confection than any other place in the world.

--Middlesboro, Kentucky is the only U.S. city built inside a meteor crater.

--The Kentucky Derby trophy is made of 56 ounces of 14 and 18 carat gold, and is two feet tall.

--Cheeseburgers (my favorite food) were first served in 1934 at Kaelin's in Louisville.

--The only monument south of the Ohio River dedicated to Union Soldiers who died in the Civil War is located in Vanceburg, KY.

--During the Civil War, Frankfort was the only Union capital occupied by Confederate troops.

--Cumberland Falls is the only waterfall in the world to regularly display a Moonbow. It is located just southwest of Corbin.

--In the War of 1812 more than half of all Americans killed in action were Kentuckians.

--More than 100 native Kentuckians have been elected governors of other states.

--In Kentucky, spitting tobacco juice on someone is considered a friendly greeting, much like the "up yours!" of a New York cabbie. (Joke people, only a joke)! :)

And there you have it, fun facts everyone should know about our great Commonwealth - and remember, Kentucky is a Commonwealth, not a State!

Also, check out my other blogs at:
Bobbi's Book Nook
Mrs. Greenhands