This mom was shocked when her breastmilk turned bright pink

If you didn't already know, your breastmilk is constantly changing to suit the needs of your baby. And depending on what's going on in both of your bodies, it can even change colour, ranging between shades of bluish white, yellow, cream and even orange.

But there are some hues that are a bit out of that milky spectrum—and hot pink is definitely one of them.

Posting a fascinating photo in a closed Facebook group for Breastfeeders in Australia, a mom (who didn't want to be identified) said she was feeding her 16-month-old daughter, when the toddler started to act unusually, pulling at her nipple saying, "More! More!"

Because of her daughter's tugging, she said some milk sprayed out, and she was shocked to notice that it was bright pink (or maybe more like magenta?). She expressed some into a bottle to see if the colour was consistent, and sure enough, she filled it with pink milk.

After the initial panic, she realized there was a simple explanation for the unusual colour: beets.

She had eaten a lot of the deeply pigmented vegetable throughout the day in many forms, including a juice, salad and just straight out of the can. "Sooooo I ate A LOT of beetroot today and this was the end result," she wrote in her original post. "Safe to say I nearly had a heart attack until I realized."

Who wouldn't worry? Pink, red or rusty-coloured shades can sometimes be a sign of blood in the milk (from damaged nipples or other issues)—which is most likely harmless for the baby, but should be checked by a doctor. But when the mom discovered she and her daughter also had pink pee, she felt doubly reassured it was just the beets. (Whew!)

Fun fact: the flavour of breastmilk can also change depending on mom's diet. After some encouragement from other members of her group, the mom tasted her breastmilk and said that although she wasn’t really familiar with the regular taste, "It did taste very, very sweet." (For vegetables, beets actually have high sugar content.)

That explains why her daughter was so enthusiastic about the milk that day. Here's hoping for mom's sake that her love of beets (and hopefully other veggies too!) continues throughout childhood—dealing with a picky eater is no fun at all.

Read more: 10 cool uses for breastmilk that you probably didn’t know about I breastfed my baby for 11 months—and hated every minute of it