It’s National Breastfeeding Month! Here are 8 ways breastmilk can be used for your health and healing as someone who is not a baby.
August is National Breastfeeding Month and World Breastfeeding Week was August 1st to August 7th. It’s a well known fact that breastfeeding is the best for a babies nutrition and overall development. According to John Hopskins Medicine, breastmilk contains nutrients that are best for babies brain growth, nervous system development, and studies have shown that they do better on intelligence tests when they grow older. There’s also certain types of fat that breastmilk contains that increase a babies eye function. Breastmilk also helps to prevent infections. Babies that are breastfed have less digestive, ear, and lung infections. There’s many more reasons why breastfeeding is best for babies as well as for the mother’s but, did you know that these same healing properties can be beneficial to everyone even if you aren’t a breastfed baby or breastfeeding mama? I’ve known of mother’s to make lotions and other skin products with their breastmilk and sell them so, if you personally know and trust a mother that’s doing this you may want to support her and use the products for one of the uses below.
Warning: Unpasteurized breastmilk can contain dangerous bacterial and fungal infections such as candida (yeast), streptococcus, and staphylococus, as well as transmit viral infections including herpes simplex virus, human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), and cytomegalovirus (CMV).
Use breastmilk for:
- Acne
Breastmilk contains lauric acid, a saturated fat that has antibacterial properties which can help clear up acne. You can mix breastmilk and coconut oil (another source of lauric acid) together or use the breastmilk on its own and dab it on your face, let it dry, then wash it off. Some people also use breastmilk as a face wash.
2. Moisturizer
Breastmilk can be used as a moisturizer to treat dry skin and eczema. It can also be applied to cracked nipples to prevent infection, relieve pain, and aide in healing. It can also help heal diaper rash, chapped lips, and loosen cradle cap.
3. Cuts, scrapes, and burns
Breastmilk has natural antiseptic properties to help cuts, scrapes, burns, and wounds heal and prevent them from becoming infected. You can apply the breastmilk with a cotton pad to the area and allow it to dry.
4. Itching
Breastmilk can relieve itching and stinging from bug bites, chicken box, bee stings, poison oak, and poison ivy.
5. Immune system booster
You don’t have to be a baby to drink breastmilk. Actually, when sick adults can drink breastmilk to boost the immune system and shorten a cold.
6. Ear infections
The antibodies in breastmilk can heal ear infections. Ear infections typically effect babies most often between the ages of 6 to 18 months. To ease discomfort some moms have reported that one drop into the baby’s ear every few hours is the cure.
7. Eye infections
Studies show that using breastmilk in a baby’s eye is likely safe and can be effective against some bacterial infections as well as blocked tear ducts.
8. Sore throat
Breastmilk can be gargled to relieved a sore throat.
