Breast Milk does WHAT?by Valorie Delp | More from this Blogger 14 Jan 2007 06:00 PM I could also entitle this blog adventures in treating conjunctivitis homeopathically. I want to start off by saying that this is not medical advice, I don't have any degrees in homeopathy nor have I researched it thoroughly. Before you think I've gone off the breast milk deep end, let me explain how we got to treating conjunctivitis using breast milk. It was 6:05 PM. I'm sure it was because had it been in the morning, I would've taken the twins to the doctor immediately for an antibiotic. The doctor's office closes at six and as luck would have it, both twins had the worst looking case of pink eye that I have ever seen in my own kids after the office was closed. And of course this is a holiday weekend. . .so they are not open Saturday or Sunday or Monday. . . Consider this information along with the fact that the last time we went to the emergency room, my son needed stitches. With blood trickling down his face, we waited for not two, not three, not four but SEVEN hours for a doctor to come and see us and another two hours for them to finish gluing his forehead back together. If a bloody boy has to wait that long, I can only imagine how long a pink eyed toddler might have to wait. I'm pretty sure conjunctivitis would be low on the emergency priority scale. So we were faced with a dilemma. We could either go spend a Friday night and early Saturday morning in the emergency room for something that really wasn't technically an emergency OR we could find an alternative means of treating the pink eye at home at least until Monday. You've likely guessed it. I got on the internet and starting looking up alternatives to treating conjunctivitis and you'll never believe what I've found. The Miracle Properties of Breastmilk Yep--you can use your breast milk to treat conjunctivitis. After I thought about it, this actually made a lot of sense. Breastmilk is full of antibacterial and immunological properties. In fact, if your nipples are cracked as a result of nursing, one of the things you do to prevent infection is rub a little breast milk into them when you're finished nursing. I even remember my pediatrician mentioning that you can use breast milk on minor cuts. It is so full of antibodies and other things that fight off infection, you can leave it at room temperature for up to ten hours, according to La Leche League. (Note: Most hospitals and doctor's offices do not recommend this.) So with our faces crinkled up (you know that expression that says 'ewwww'), I expressed some milk into a sterilized bottle and with a sterilized eye dropper we began treating the pink eye. Websites say to drop 2-3 drops of breast milk into the affected eye and do this three times a day. In addition it is helpful to wipe the eye with a warm, damp cloth to keep it clean. (We use gauze soaked in chamomile tea for this.) And the Results Are. . . Yep--it worked! Both girls' eyes are clear and free from the pink eye and the thick yellowish discharge that makes eye lids stick together. However, I want to add a few notes that I discovered from my reading: * An infection that doesn't clear or isn't getting better within 48 hours needs to be seen by a doctor. * You need to keep everything very sterile. Each eye needs it's own dropper or the eye dropper needs to be washed thoroughly and sterilized again for each eye. Milk that comes directly out of the breast is always sterile. (But we were not creative enough to figure out how to get milk directly from the breast into the eye of a wiggling toddler!) Related Articles: Learn more about Valorie Delp  Hello everybody! My name is Valorie and I am one busy lady! When I'm not writing or editing for families, I am busy trying to get my brood of 5 in line. Relevantbaby tags User Comments  Amber (11754) 14 Jan 2007 09:39 PM"In fact, if your nipples are cracked as a result of nursing, one of the things you do to prevent infection is rub a little breast milk into them when you're finished nursing." i read this actually makes the cracking worse. (like licking your lips makes chapped lips worse). but the pink eye is a genius idea!  Valorie Delp (49340) 15 Jan 2007 05:47 AMNo--rubbing breastmilk into your nipples is referred to as "moist healing". It works very well if you're attentive. What will make it worse quickly though is wearing nursing pads thus inadvertantly keeping the nipples permanently wet. What you should do is squirt a little breastmilk and then let it dry. Then I always used 'soothies' which I swear by. You could also use Lansinoh applied directly atop the nipple after the breastmilk. Community Tags baby, breastfeeding, conjunctivitis, pink eye Discuss this article
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