Anise Seed Tea
★★★★★
A note to nursing mothers who have problems with milk production; a good side affect of anise is that it increases milk production in lactating mothers. I know this for a fact as my last child was born when I was 40 and I had problems producing milk sufficient to meet my child's needs. Be cognisant of the fact that you do not want to over do it with alcohol if you are nursing as this would be counter productive to the health and well being of the child who depends on you for nourishment. I used an anise tea when I was nursing it works well for increasing milk production.
Anise Seed Tea
★★★★★
Antibiotic Use While Breastfeeding
I also believe I may have a fungal infection on my feet, toes and shins. I have read about ACV and coconut oil. Again, is there anything I should know about starting a regimen while breastfeeding? Would a foot soak be better then taking it internally?
Thank you so much. Your site is wonderful!
(Tennessee, Usa)
09/13/2013
Hi Rachel,
I have used ACV, Coconut Oil and probiotics while breastfeeding. Personally, I think they are all safe to use internally. I have never seen any ill effect from them for myself or baby while breastfeeding.
As far as the fungal infection on your legs/feet, it might help the most to treat internally and externally, especially if it is causing discomfort.
~Mama to Many~
Apple Cider Vinegar
★☆☆☆☆
I breastfeed my son, and he was 8 months old when I started taking the apple cider vinegar for joint pain. At his age, nothing I ate or drank bothered his stomach, but when I was taking the apple cider vinegar he had frequent stomach aches, was very fussy, and would go days without bowel movements when he normally would have one twice a day. I would definately not suggest drinking apple cider vinegar if you're a breastfeeding mother.
Apple Cider Vinegar
EC: We've been searching the net and this is the typical response to your question:
Pregnancy and Breastfeeding
Not recommended due to lack of sufficient data.
However, here is one response from mothering.com: (http://www.mothering.com/discussions/showthread.php?t=886927)
"When I had some problems with plugged ducts in the early weeks of dd's life, I came here and read some of the threads looking for suggestions. Someone suggested apple cider vinegar in order to prevent plugged ducts/mastitis. I did a search on google and found out that it can be used to prevent mastitis. I've been taking a tbsp daily with a little honey and some cold water. I use Bragg - organic apple cider vinegar. You should not have any problems, in fact it will probably be good for you. That's just my 2 cents
Tara"
(USA)
02/18/2009
★★★★★
UPDATE: We decided to email the _____ company this afternoon to see if they could answer the question as to if apple cider vinegar is safe for pregnant or nursing women.
John Westerdahl, PhD, MPH, RD and director of the _____ Health Foundation emailed us back, "_____ Apple Cider vinegar is safe to consume for pregnant and lactating women."
Good to know.. FINALLY!
Apple Cider Vinegar
Apple Cider Vinegar
(Springfield, Il)
02/09/2010
★★★★★
I took ACV (organic) all through my last pregnancy and while nursing with no problems at all. Helped a lot with the problems of constipation during pregnancy. I also took unsulpherated blackstrap molasses and never needed iron sups (I needed them for my first kids). And oh yes....I had my last when I was 47, am still nursing at 48 1/2 and she is perfectly healthy and I feel great. In fact, I can eat anything (healthy of course) and it doesn't bother her. A very happy baby!
Apple Cider Vinegar
(Johannesburg, South Africa)
02/26/2015
(Tennessee)
02/26/2015
Dear Sammy,
I put Apple Cider Vinegar in my water every day during my last pregnancy and the entire time I was nursing that baby. I probably used up to 2 T. a day. When my baby was able to drink from my cup he would take sips of my vinegar water, too! :)
I have never heard of Apple Cider Vinegar being a problem for breastfeeding moms.
~Mama to Many~
Apple Cider Vinegar, Garlic
Breast Milk
★★★★★
Your Walking Medicine Chest
By Liz Laing
Issue 133, November/December 2005
Mother's milk is the perfect panacea for a whole host of ailments - from pinkeye to acne. Just a squirt will do the trick!
Most people know about the health benefits of breastfeeding, but few know about breastmilk's medicinal benefits. Breastmilk is sterile, antibacterial, and has many healing properties. It can be used to treat a variety of ailments and can be applied topically for eye and ear infections, minor skin injuries, sore or cracked nipples, diaper rash, sore throats, and stuffy noses. Is breastmilk an everyday cure-all? Read on and judge for yourself.
When your child gets a cold and has a stuffy nose, drizzle breastmilk into each nostril. It will thin the mucus, and the milk's natural antibodies will help fight infection. Jay Gordon, MD, FAAP, IBCLC's nationally recognized pediatrician, author, and breastfeeding authority, encourages the use of breastmilk in this way. "I recommend breastmilk as the best nose drop for babies and children with colds," he says. "The milk kills viruses on contact (sounds like a TV commercial!), and the best part is that it makes babies sneeze. The sneeze sends viruses, bacteria, dust, and more flying out of the nose at 100 mph."
Several clinical studies have shown that since each mother's milk is made specifically for her own baby, it is effective in ridding the infant's eyes and nose of viruses and germs. I have used it on my own children, and even on myself. Recently, my son had pinkeye; when I applied my breastmilk to his eyes several times a day, the conjunctivitis cleared up. A friend of mine used her breastmilk on all her family members whenever they got pinkeye, and thus for years she was able to avoid having to buy prescription eyedrops.
You never know when breastmilk will come in handy. I got liquid soap in my eye once while in the locker room at my gym. My eye was burning and extremely red, and rinsing it with water didn't help at all. I checked my purse for eyedrops but found none. Then I remembered the built-in medicine chest I carried around on my own chest. I went into a bathroom stall, cupped my hand, squirted out some milk, and bathed my eye in it. Ahhhhhh! Instant relief - the redness and painful stinging were gone. I was glad to have this option available, and felt proud that my body produces something that can be used to help heal other parts of my body. What a great way to recycle.
Besides colds and eye irritations, there are several other conditions that might benefit from the use of breastmilk. In most cases you simply express your milk into a clean saucer, cup, or bowl, then use a cotton ball or eyedropper to apply or squirt milk directly onto the area, as needed, for the desired results.
In many places - including Mexico, Russia, Africa, South America, and India - the use of breastmilk in alternative ways is quite common. One mother on a Midwifery Today online forum said, "In Nigeria, if a child has a condition of the eyes, such as mucus, we simply squirt a bit of breastmilk and it clears right up."1
Besides healing common minor afflictions, breastmilk has recently been in the news for helping to treat more serious illnesses. Adult cancer patients have been drinking breastmilk in an attempt to boost their immune systems and cope better with the side effects of chemotherapy.2 While this is not a common practice, a milk bank in California has supplied a group of pioneering patients with breastmilk for the past few years. One lucky recipient of this donor milk, Howard Cohen of Palo Alto, California, strongly believes that ingesting breastmilk daily has helped his prostate cancer go into remission.3
Donor milk is used to treat a variety of health problems. I spoke with Pauline Sakamoto, RN, MS, executive director of the Mothers' Milk Bank in San Jose, California, about some of the other ways breastmilk benefits people. "Historically, human milk has been used for diseases and health conditions of adults and children and as a superior food for babies. These folk cures have been tested throughout time. Currently, there has been more interest in the scientific community to test the components of human milk's effect on different health problems that plague us today. Hopefully, in the near future, we will validate the incredible power that our body has to promote growth, heal itself, and preserve its integrity via human milk.
Breastmilk may even kill cancer cells. In 1995 physician and immunologist Catharina Svanborg and a team of research biologists at Sweden's Lund University discovered in breastmilk a protein compound, alpha-lactalbumin (they gave it the acronym HAMLET), that selectively induces apoptosis in tumor cells.4 In other words, HAMLET makes cancer cells commit suicide. In fact, it has killed every type of cancer the researchers have tested it against. HAMLET has also been used to successfully treat virally infected warts, which were reduced by 75 percent in volunteers who received daily treatments with an ointment containing the protein. The same viruses that cause warts are also linked to cervical cancer, genital warts, and some types of skin cancer. Well, we all knew that breastmilk is powerful.
You may wonder why this discovery of a possible cure for cancer has not received greater attention. Funding is part of the problem, but slowly, in the past decade, more attention has been paid to this small laboratory in a quiet corner of the world. Even the American Cancer Society has given its stamp of approval by giving a grant to Svanborg and her team to help fund further research into their discovery.
While this type of scientific news is exciting, let's not forget the real miracle of breastmilk and its primary use. The healing powers of this liquid gold are incredible enough, but breastmilk's most amazing quality is that it gives life. No other food or substance on earth comes close to doing what breastmilk does. Human breastmilk is the ideal food for human babies. Pediatrician Jay Gordon reminds us how crucial breastfeeding is when he says, "Babies denied breastmilk during the first year of life get sick and die at a much greater rate than babies who nurse."
I am still amazed when I watch my son nurse. I know that his healthy, growing body is thriving because he is suckling the perfect food, which my body makes for his body. But in addition to satisfying this primary need, my breastmilk can help heal his body in other ways as well.
NOTES
http: //www.midwiferytoday.com/forums/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=383
Michael Day, "Adults Turn to Breast Milk to Ease Effects of Chemotherapy," Daily Telegraph (16 January 2005); www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2005/01/16/nteat16. xml
"The Man Who Swears by Breastmilk," BBC News Online, UK edition (23 January 2005): http://news.bbc.co. uk/1/hi/health/4187697.stm
Catharina Svanborg, MD, PhD, "Treatment of Skin Papillomas with Topical Alpha-Lactalbumin-Oleic Acid," New England Journal of Medicine 350 (2004): 2663-2672.
Liz Laing, ACE, is a freelance writer and mother of four beautiful, breastfed children. She has been a stay-at-home mom for the past 12 years and most recently is overcoming the challenges of single motherhood. A certified childbirth educator and doula, Liz lives in Los Angeles, California.
Breast Milk
★★★★★
Breast Milk
★★★★★
My mom taught me that squirting breast milk in your infant's nose is helpful when they are congested.
(Toulon, France)
01/16/2011
Breast Milk
★★★★★
The doctor told me that he would probably have weakened lungs and allergies when he got older. Exactly as predicted, my son has terrible allergies, sinus infections and occasionally pneumonia throughout his life (he is 28 now). My three other breast fed children did not have milk products introduced until 2 years old. They experience NO allergies or problems with milk products.
Infants were meant to grow on breast milk NOT prepared cows milk! I have seen this same scenario played out in families for years young and elderly friends will tell of similar incidents where they as infants were given cows milk formula or straight cows milk and led lives miserable because of early ingestion of cows milk.
Just one bottle in spite of breast feeding causes my son years of miserable respiratory illness! Breasts are meant to nourish infants, even animals know that! If breast milk without introducing milk products too early can prevent a life time of illness, why aren't young moms told by doctor's and nurses the complications that their children will bear?
My mom (born in 1912) saw in her generation (1920-30's) artificial milk in baby bottles introduced in the commercialized hospital. Babies were brought up on formula and often watered down formula were weak and sick all the time. She braved being labeled having "a third world" mentality (used to bully the new mom into a formula customer). Breast feeding nourishes the whole infant and prepares the digestive system as well as being the BEST first food that is the best preventative against allergies, sinus infections and digestive ailments for life!
A little time out of a mother's life can benefit the child and the mother from the beneficial hormones.
She also braved having a child at 39 in 1952, me! I learned from this old gal who used common horse sense and, yes, she also used good old fashioned organic apple juice to cure many ills.
(Maine)
12/12/2020
This is absolutely a ridiculous claim and it's dangerous! It's also shaming many moms who don't follow your EXACT lifestyle! My word! Not a single educated person, dotor, scientist or others would support this outrageous claim. Dear EC team, please take this down, it is spreading very dangerous claims that can harm many families! Breastfeeding is amazing, but cows milk is not anywhere near this "dangerous" or anything of the sort!! Awful Earth Clinic! Awful!
(somewhere, europe)
12/13/2020
AllieBee, for sensitive children it IS a problem. The catch is that many times one doesn't find out until years later. And by that time, some people are so used to dairy, they almost cannot stop ingesting it even tho they have traced their ills to it.
(faithville, Us)
12/13/2020
I breast fed my three but breast milk is affected by diet and stress levels. Cows milk is also affected by diet and stress levels. Most animals are plumped up these days to produce quicker and more quantity so that is why we have hormone problems and other issues. Crops are also on the same production line . The divine reset is here to help us get back to the basics. You tube is my tv and Justin Rhodes family show their farm and lots of kids happily helping to live, eat, and be merry doing the work to raise healthy food, kids, and animals. It's fun to see someone that has stress but makes the best of it for the next generation. I think the trick is to see the glass half full and not get obsessed with the what ifs or dwell on what wasn't . Allie Bee, I'm sorry you felt shamed . There is no reason for any woman who brings life into the world to feel shame for doing her best, no matter what anyone else thinks about how they do it. I couldn't count all the mistakes I made but when I see my kids raising their kids I know they are doing their best and I look at all the things they are doing right . Focus on the good and the good will get more prominent. We are all human and like sheep being led astray have to filter anything and everything we are being fed. The books at the library contradict each other on most topics. You pick the ones you believe by your filter and deem them to be your truth. Science can change, it is limited by current data. Who owns the medical schools? Follow the money . Shake off anything holding up the good and dwell on what the perfected universe would be and it will come about. What a wonderful wonderful world it can be when I have eyes to envision it and speak it forth and believe in it. We are all powerful and create our atmospheres. I am working on some reprogramming to readjust my future. I have decided to have bigger dreams. Blessings. charity
(USA)
12/13/2020
Cabbage
★★★★★
I believe this is a situation that many nursing mothers face. We tried using fresh cabbage leaves and it worked miracles! Just take the individual leaves, dip in boiling water for a couple of minutes to soften; let cool till warm and wrap the breasts in 2 or 3 layers of leaves. Cover with a warm damp towel and leave for an hour or so, then repeat until the breasts have become supple once again.
Try it, it works! Cabbage works for alot of other types of congestion and swelling and even for wounds. It's a great home remedy.
(Seattle, Wa)
06/24/2011
★★★★★
Cabbage for engorgement is AWESOME! When I had my frist child I got very very engorged, to the point where my breasts were red like they had been sunburned and I could not put my arms at my sides anymore. So I put a head of green cabbage in the fridge and let it get cold. When it was cold I peeled off the largest outside leaves and put them on my breasts and then put a bra on to try to keep them against the skin. There was instant relief from the pain beacause the leaves were cold but after a few hours the swelling had reduced and I was not in excruciating pain. I only had to use this method one more time becasue my child was nursing better so the engorgment was gone but it was awsome when I needed it!
(Porirua, Wellington, New Zealand)
08/26/2011
★★★★★
yes! I did not believe such a simple thing could work and suffered terribly with my two firstborn children. I finally tried it when my 3rd child was born (some many wise years later). It is like a miracle. I used it cold as above, wore one leave as a bra liner, it also helped soften my cracked (bleeding) nipples. Better than anything else.
Coconut Oil
(Gresham, Or)
06/15/2010
(Norton, Oh)
02/15/2012
★★★★★
Coconut oil is actually good for mom and baby when she is nursing. Since it is anti- viral, -bacterial, -fungal, she may detox quickly if taken too much at one time. Start slowly, then increase slowly. It is a good immune booster for both, and the fat is good for mom's milk. Coconut oil is especially a good alternative if a mom has to exclude dairy from her diet, as she can easily replace butter in baked goods, cooking, etc.
