Tuesday, February 1, 2011

YOU DO WHAT WITH YOUR BREASTMILK?????

Recently, a friend who breastfeeds, had her lil boy come down with a cold. I explained to her to put a few drops of breastmilk in his eyes, if she started to see any "goop" in them, a few times a day to help keep him from getting an eye infection. Many people know about this...but others, they say - WHAT????
So it got me thinking of the many uses of breastmilk. My favorites include:
  • Facewash/acne treatment-Wash face with a mild soap, rinse, and gently pat a breastmilk-saturated ball of cotton (not a synthetic material) over the entire face. This process is great for removing eye makeup as well.
  • Treat Ear Infections (before they get too bad)- Place a few drops of breastmilk in the ear; follow with warm (not hot) olive oil and garlic, or bottled garlic mullein oil (sold at natural food stores).
  • Treat cuts, scrapes, etc-  Clean wound first using breastmilk if you don't have soap and water. Drip milk onto the wound, then let it air-dry. You can also use a cotton ball or a 4-by-4-inch gauze pad soaked in breastmilk. If the cut is on a baby's lips or mouth area, allow him or her to nurse. An upset child will be calmed by the gentle, loving act of breastfeeding, and the milk will help heal the wound.
  • Treat Diaper Rashes (as long as they are not yeast based)- You can spray breastmilk directly from the tap, or use the cotton ball, to put on the rash. Be sure to let it air dry before replacing your little one's diaper. This is a great way to treat rashes on cloth diapered babies as many rash creams are not CD friendly.
  • Treat Sunburns-Apply breastmilk gingerly to burns and they will dry up and look much better the next day. A burn treated with breastmilk and mashed-up blueberries will dry up within an hour, wrote one mom on a Midwifery Today online forum.1 Elena Michaels, PhD, CCH, LMFT, a traditional naturopath in Santa Clarita, California, told me that she often applied her breastmilk to her kids' sunburns. The soothing milk would stop the pain immediately," she said. "I believe the lauric acid found in breastmilk is antiviral, antibacterial, healing to tissue, and contains analgesic properties. Besides human breastmilk, virgin coconut oil is nature's most abundant source of lauric acid. (This treatment from Informed Parentings website)
  • Chapped Lips, Dry Skin- I get extremely chapped lips and dry skin in the winter. I have started dabbing breastmilk on my lips in the mornings and it has helped tons. I also had skin that was so dry this winter that it was cracking, peeling and bleeding. I could not, for the life of me, remember to keep apply lotion...so I took a shot with breastmilk...it worked WONDERS!!! 2 days and my hands are nice and soft again.
  • Warts- put a cotton ball saturated with breastmilk on a wart holding it there for a few minutes. Do this 2-3 times a day and the wart will dry up with in days.
  • Skin Rashes- Lil Man has had some awful skin rash on his chin with all the drooling during his last teething session. Nothing worked on it. I about slapped myself when I realized I hadn't even considered breastmilk. 2 days and it was gone!
  • Heal sore/cracked nipples- You know those sore, bleeding nipples you get from either the first few weeks of nursing, over-pumping, or a biting nursling- breastmilk is better than almost any nipple cream you will find. After nursing/pumping- hand express enough to rub over the nipple and then let it air dry before covering your breast back up with your bra/shirt.
These are just a few of the HUNDREDS of uses for breastmilk. Let's also not forget that it is a great creamer replacement for coffee drinkers. If you run out of milk, you have some very handy for your older child's cereal. Best of all, if your husband makes you mad- you can squirt him from across the room.

What are some of your favorite non-traditional uses for breastmilk.

1 comment:

mryjhnsn said...

This is just brilliant! Thanks for sharing... I thought I was the only one who used it in coffee (occasionally). Found you on the The Leaky B@@b message board on FB (ineedaplaydate.blogspot.com)