This memory match game includes breastfeeding emojis from different platforms (like Apple and Google). Do you recognize the differences between the platform emojis? Can you find the correct match? There are 3 levels -- that get gradually harder. Good luck!!
Now here are 7 cool facts you probably didn't know about the breastfeeding emoji.
1. The Breastfeeding Emoji Was Proposed In 2016
The breastfeeding emoji was originally proposed by Rachel W Lee on September 30, 2016. Lee was a registered nurse and medical equipment trainer at the University College of London Hospital. She hoped a breastfeeding emoji would "compl[i]ment the existing baby bottle emoji, and complete the set of family emojis." She also included some pretty interesting stats in her proposal, including the belief that 79% of babies in the United States are breastfed and that the bottle emoji was in the top 50% of emojis used.
2. The Breastfeeding Emoji Was Released In 2017
The breastfeeding emoji was officially released on May 18, 2017 along with the merperson, an older person, the coconut and 55 other emojis. There were over 200 happy reactions on Instagram, like the following birthkeeper and educator, who wrote, "so happy about this! #breastfeedingemoji."
3. The Original Breastfeeding Emoji Design Was Headless
Below are the images submitted in Lee's proposal. She credits Joshua Jones for the following samples.
There's one in color and one in black and white. It features a mom using the cradle hold, which is one of the positions used for nursing an infant. When the breastfeeding emoji was released, the mother's head is included, but the baby is often shown with a hat.
4. Baby's Head Is Purposely Covered
Per a tweet from emojipedia, this was recommended "so the infant isn't required to have the same skin tone as the mother." If you look closely at most of the emoji designs, in addition to the hat, the baby is also swaddled (wrapped in cloth) and no skin is showing. OpenMoji and Facebook disregard this recommendation. In Facebook's emoji the baby has hair and a lighter complexion. And the OpenMoji design uses the same complexion as the mom.
5. Many Have No Idea There Is A Breastfeeding Emoji
Five years after the breastfeeding emoji was released, there's still people learning about it's presence. One Twitter user wrote in 2022 "ya'll I'm just realizing there's a breastfeeding emoji!! How frkn cool" with 3 breastfeeding emojis.
The dairy-farmer wrote in 2023, "just found out there's an emoji for breastfeeding" followed by 1 breastfeeding emoji.
Here's another surprised twitter user... "I just found out there's an emoji for breastfeeding" followed by 25 breastfeeding emojis.
You may be wondering, how does someone not realize the breastfeeding emoji exist? As of 2021, Unicode reported having 3,663 emojis. Some have seen (and even used) the emoji, but thought that it was a person admiring a child.
If you access the emoji via a desktop, you're able to hover over the emoji to see its name. But if you are just looking at it amongst other emojis, you may just see a mom looking down at the child she is holding and smiling.
6. The Breastfeeding Emoji Is Used 75 Times A Day
According to emojistats.org, the average daily use of the breastfeeding emoji is 75 times a day. It tied with five other emojis including the ...
carrot
tomato
ballot box with a check
question mark and exclamation point
person in a steamy room
The total use of the breastfeeding emoji as of April 1, 2023 at 4:18pm was 148,144. The time is included, because the emoji frequency is updated throughout the day. Contrary to Lee's idea that the breastfeeding emoji may be widely used. It is still used far less than the baby emoji (607,590), the bottle emoji (374,480) and the carrot emoji (172,482).
However, this data is from emojistats, which is powered by an emoji keyboard app called emojiexpress. So I am unsure if this data is collected solely from their app. Multiple platforms have the breastfeeding emoji. Also, I am unsure if the stats are the lifetime use of the emoji, or just a specific year. For example, the baby emoji was released in 2010, which gives it a whole 7 year lead on the breastfeeding emoji. Likewise, the bottle emoji was released in 2015, giving it a 2 year lead. And the carrot emoji was released in 2016.
Below is the data from Unicode, which is deployed on over 20 billion devices. Unicode is the non-profit organization with the mission of digitizing global communication. Therefore it sets universal emoji standards, makes them uniform and unique. Their data compliments emojistats in that, the breastfeeding emoji is used less than the 3 others.
Emoji | Year | Rank | Category |
Baby | 2010 | 214 | People & Body |
Baby Bottle | 2015 | 262 | Food & Drink |
Carrot | 2016 | 444 | Food & Drink |
Breastfeeding | 2017 | 585 | People & Body |
When Is The Breastfeeding Emoji Used?
There are literal and non-literal meanings for the breastfeeding emoji. Emojis are a form of digital non-verbal communication. They express feelings where words can fall short. For example, while the breastfeeding emoji shows a mother breastfeeding, it can also be used to express feelings of not being able to put the baby down.
Below are other reasons the breastfeeding emoji may be used.
World Emoji Day (July 17)
Breastfeeding Awareness Month (August)
Black Breastfeeding Week (August 25-31)
to show baby admiration
to express clinginess
to express hands being full
when the emoji is discovered
explicit reasons
I have more to say, but I have a 3-year old grabbing at my shirt wanting to nurse as I type. Nonetheless, I hope you found some of this helpful and maybe a little enlightening.
Do you use the breastfeeding emoji?
yes
no
Until next time...
Love the Journey,
