They are used as a traditional food source for nursing mothers, the seed flour is fermented to make baby food, the leaves and shoots, especially of T. occidentalis, are eaten as vegetables.
In addition, UNFPA had recourse to the Scouts of Niger for the implementation of a project of food distribution to pregnant and breastfeeding women in the Agadez and Zinder areas.
In May 2012, two Air Force National Guard service members stationed at Fairchild Air Force Base, Washington chose to participate in a staged breastfeeding awareness campaign, hosted by the Mom2Mom of Fairchild Breastfeeding Support Group by being photographed breastfeeding in their uniforms.
Mulford was also an active member of the Women, Infants and Children (WIC) Program of South Jersey (eastern USA), co-chairman for the Business Case for Breastfeeding project, a Trustee of the New Jersey Breastfeeding Coalition (NJBFC) and Pennsylvania Breastfeeding Coalition.
A potential resolution to these different interpretations was proposed in a study showing that breastfeeding was linked to raised IQ (as much as 7 points when not controlling for maternal IQ) if the infants had an SNP coding for a "C" rather than G base within the FADS2 gene.
Breast shells, which protect nipples from being flattened in preparation for breastfeeding