5 Uses for Breast Milk (Beyond Feeding Babies)

For those of you who produce enough breast milk to spare, here are 5 Uses for Breast Milk beyond feeding babies that are being tossed about on the web which, of course, means that the information may or may not be accurate and I am to be held harmless if you try one of the ideas out only to find that it doesn't work.

People are saying that you can use breast milk to:

1. smooth your skin? Word is that a generous squirt or two of liquid gold (what we call breast milk around my house) will moisturize and eliminate ashy-ness leaving your skin smooth as silk. This seems like a huge waste of good milk to me, but if you find yourself without lotion on a day when you need it; it's worth a shot.

2. Heal minor scrapes, cuts and scratches. I've heard that cosmetic or medical grade sugar over a wound will help it to heal and I suppose there could be sugar or some natural antibiotic in the chemical composition of breast milk that works in a similar manner.

3. Control acne. Perhaps the same components that helps to heal minor wounds work on the inflammation of acne. It would feel weird to wash your face in milk of any kind, but I actually like the idea better than bathing my monthly breakouts in chemicals, don't you?

4. Calm conjunctivitis. Talk about unusual cures for pink eye! It's been written that a few drops will fix those red eyes right up after a sleepless night. I have to wonder if a mom up all night with a fussy baby accidentally splashes some in her eye to figure this one out.

5. Take the place of milk in some recipes. The substitution would most likely work best in dessert recipes since everyone I've ever known who sampled their baby's dinner said it tastes sweet.

I love the idea of
recycling baby stuff, household items and conservation of all resources so not wasting precious breast milk is right in my wheel house, but I'm not sure I've read anything that I want to try at the moment, have you?
If you have a tip that you would like to add to my list of 5 uses for breast milk or if you've tried one of the above suggestions, please feel free to tell us all about it using the comments section.

Healing Foods for ADHD

Occasionally one of the girls or one of the cousins might drink just a little too much sweet tea. The after effects are that they will begin to chatter non-stop while displaying an inability to stop moving their feet. The adults might laugh and tell them that we didn't know ADHD come on so suddenly!

For those of us who don't suffer from it, I suppose it's easy to joke about something that is so hard for other parents to deal with on a daily basis. What brings this to mind today is that we recently got some new neighbors in the house next door. I was so thrilled when I saw that they have children similar in age to my own. Before the moving van had pulled away, I had my "Welcoming Committee Casseroles" in the oven so that I could help out with their supper that evening.

Within a few hours I was tapping on the door ready to introduce myself. The lady that answered the door looked tired, but excited with her new home and that neighbors had been so welcoming and friendly. She invited me in, but I sensed some resistance and I really didn't know what to make of it. I assured her that I didn't want to impose on such a busy day and just wanted to drop off something that she could heat up whenever she felt like it. She looked so relieved that I thought that I had indeed intruded. I was about to duck out the door, when we heard a crash from the other room.

I felt I should go with her to investigate because of the kids and sure enough one of hers was standing to the side of the scene of the accident, another in a child carrier just out of harm's way and the other was right in the middle of the carnage. Mom seemed to know which child was responsible right away and took him by the hand to walk me to the door. The little boy was pulling against her all the way and seemed distressed. She took this opportunity to explain to me that he was ADHD and that she had wanted an opportunity to talk to me about his condition before I met him as they didn't believe in medicating for it and there were times when he got pretty out of control.

People, I felt that the Lord had sent this lady into my orbit! My sister had a child with much the same symptoms as this little fellow and also has the belief that medication may not be the answer. She was determined to try natural means before resorting to meds and she has had amazing results. She has come to believe that many cases of ADHD could be helped if not completely eliminated by dietary changes! She got lots of tips from Dr. Melanie Beingessner product resources. She's the doctor who wrote the Calm Baby Cookbook. I am in no way affiliated to this lady, but have seen firsthand the benefits of following some of her suggestions!
I had real problems with my baby having severe rashes when I was breastfeeding that disappeared once I identified and eliminated trigger foods.

I told my new neighbor about this and I hope she gets some good results, because she really looks worn out and at her wits end. If anyone else has suggestions to add, I would love to forward them to her!

BREASTFEEDING and BUNKO

I don't know if moms in your area enjoy playing the dice game, Bunko, or not, but in my area it's written in red on most gal's calendar. There are more Bunko clubs around here than you can shake a stick at! It's the perfect opportunity (and excuse) for eight women to get together and see everybody's new home decorating project and eat somebody's cooking besides their own. Some clubs dress up and really put on the dog decking the tables and themselves out in fine style. Some serve cocktails and finger foods and say to "come as sloppy as you like". I want the best of both worlds and DH doesn't mind babysitting twice a month so I belong to one of each.

It's more or less understood that this is a mom's night out, but we do make exceptions for breastfeeding moms of newborns. Plus we love passing those sweet infants around right along with the dice used to play. We have NEVER had the first uncomfortable incident and laughed our tails off at all the uproar of breastfeeding in public, (With all the boobs in our faces for no good reason, where do they get off criticizing and censoring a mother feeding her baby?) but now we are having a problem with a breastfeeding mom. The issue is not that she is extending the unspoken breastfeeding acceptance within our club, it's that she is obsessed with breastfeeding to the point that when the dice are passed to her for her turn, she takes that opportunity to hog the dice and tell us about how many men (or people) that she has shocked that month by breastfeeding in public.

I'm afraid our club that's been together for several years is going to split over this! We are all pro-extended breastfeeding advocates, but this situation really has nothing to do with that. I feel it's an issue of selfishness and the need for one person to have the complete center stage!

More on this later. My timer just went off!