Breastfeeding Life | A Breastfeeding and Lifestyle Blog

Here’s a Scrumptious Breast Milk Lotion Recipe You Can DIY at Home

February 9, 2020 by bflife Leave a Comment

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This breast milk lotion recipe is so easy!

Breast milk is full of wonderful properties. If you have some leftover milk from daycare, the babysitter, accidentally leaving it out on the counter, or you just happen to have an abundance of extra supply, make the most of that extra milk with this breast milk lotion recipe you can make at home yourself.

By now you’ve probably heard or read about the benefits of breast milk. In my humble opinion, it’s quite literally liquid gold and every drop can make a difference.

Breast milk contains beneficial nutrients and antibodies that continually adjust to the needs of your growing baby.

But did you know it might even be helpful in a person’s skin routine?

Some moms have had success treating their baby’s diaper rashes with breast milk. And others say breast milk helped ease the skin irritation caused by eczema.

With that in mind, you can create a simple breast milk lotion to help keep your baby’s skin moisturized and healthy.

You can check out my no-lye breast milk soap recipe here for another skincare option.

This breast milk lotion recipe consists of natural ingredients, with your liquid gold as one of the main ones.

Breast Milk Lotion Recipe

Ingredients

3 oz breast milk at room temperature
3 tbsp coconut oil
3 tbsp beeswax (or 3 of these beeswax bars)
A few drops of Vitamin E oil
Optional: A couple of drops of essential oil for fragrance (although I recommend leaving out the essential oil if you’re making the lotion for your baby’s face or as a diaper cream)

Steps

Combine the coconut oil and beeswax in a microwave-safe measuring cup.
Heat the oil and beeswax in the microwave in 15-second increments, stirring between each, until the mixture has melted together.
Add the Vitamin E oil.
Slowly pour in the room temperature breast milk while rapidly whisking until the mixture thickens and emulsifies.
Leave the mixture to cool before using it. While it’s cooling, it will continue to thicken.

Store your breast milk lotion in a sealed container and in a cool, dry place away from any heat source. If you want to store it in the refrigerator, be aware that the beeswax will harden and you’ll need to let it come down to room temperature before using.

If you tried this recipe and liked it, leave a note in the comments or add it to our Instagram!

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Breastfeeding Moms are Stronger Together

September 8, 2019 by bflife Leave a Comment

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Sometimes breastfeeding can be an isolating experience. Whether you are a new mom who is breastfeeding for the first time or you have been breastfeeding babies for a while, breastfeeding can make you feel cut off from family and friends if they aren’t supportive or simply do not understand the benefits of breastfeeding.

All too often, it is assumed that a breastfeeding mom will leave a room or a public place to feed her baby out of sight. And although advertisements may be full of cleavage, for some reason people lose their minds when they see a woman feeding her baby in public. It’s as if breastfeeding support isn’t even a thing.

Most moms choosing to breastfeed their babies do so because they have been made aware of the lifelong advantages of breastfeeding. But when it comes to the task itself, many feel they have nowhere to turn to for information and advice when things are not going as planned. For that reason, a lot of breastfeeding moms unfortunately give up breastfeeding prematurely.

The World Health Organization recommends exclusively breastfeeding babies for the first six months of their lives, with continued breastfeeding along with appropriate complementary foods up to two years of age or beyond. But many are only breastfed for a few days or weeks.

It is vital that breastfeeding moms have a supportive and informative network of people to ask for help.

And that is where Breastfeeding Support Groups can play a huge role.

A well-organized breastfeeding support group will cater for a variety of women from varied backgrounds. It will educate women thinking about breastfeeding whilst they are pregnant and it will also cater for both new moms and more experienced breastfeeding moms.

Breastfeeding support groups allow women and their babies to come together in a relaxed atmosphere, to enjoy congenial conversation. Women are encouraged to discuss breastfeeding issues and, as a result, breastfeeding moms help one another to bypass barriers placed along the path.

Facebook has a number of supportive breastfeeding groups available to join.

Breastfeeding moms need to talk about breastfeeding in order to bring their experiences into the wider community. It is only by chatting about breastfeeding in an open and honest way with one another that it will become more acceptable. If more women are given the opportunity to access breastfeeding support groups then breastfeeding statistics will surely rise.

And who knows, maybe today’s breastfed babies will become confident breastfeeding moms of tomorrow, free of the worries and fears about breastfeeding that are so prevalent in today’s society.

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Easy DIY Breast Milk Soap (4 Step No-Lye Recipe)

June 25, 2019 by bflife Leave a Comment

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Follow this super simple breast milk soap recipe for a scrumptious soap that lathers really, really well!

Image of homemade breast milk soap — Homemade Breast Milk Soap

My youngest child spent his first two weeks of life in the NICU, so I pumped around the clock (every 2 to 3 hours) to establish my supply. Thankfully he latched on like a champ the day before we took him home, and he has been eating well every since.

Fast forward 5 months and I have quite a bit of frozen breast milk that needs to be used up. He occasionally gets a bottle whenever I need to be away for more than a couple of hours, but for the most part he gets his milk directly from the tap! I wish we’d bought a deep freezer in order to store all of that liquid gold for longer than the recommended 6 months. Hindsight is 20/20, right?

Have you ever had a situation where there was milk in the fridge for too many days? The idea of just pouring it out hurts my soul.

I needed something to do with some of that extra milk in those situations, so I decided to make breast milk soap! According to La Leche League International, “Human breast milk may aid healing.”

As a mom who works from home and has a toddler and an infant, I appreciate recipes that are efficient and simple.

I really did not want to experiment with lye recipes, as lye is a very caustic chemical capable of causing serious injuries. Instead, I decided to try a few different melt and pour soap bases. You can see the list of soap bases I’ve tried by scrolling down.

Easy No-Lye Breast Milk Soap Recipe

This is the quick and easy way to make scrumptious breast milk soap that lathers beautifully and leaves your skin feeling so fresh and so clean! Just follow this 4-step recipe.

Step 1:

Melt 1/2 lb. of your preferred soap base in a microwave on the high setting. I like to melt in 15 second increments to reduce the chance of overheating the soap base (overheating creates bubbles that won’t go away, making your soap look less appealing).

Melt your soap base to make homemade soap

Step 2:

Stir one (1) cup of room temperature breast milk into your melted soap base. Keep stirring until the breast milk and soap base are mixed together really well.

Stir breast milk into your melted soap base

Step 3:

Once your breast milk and soap base are mixed together well, pour the liquid into the shape of containers you want to make your soap. I love these silicone molds.

Pour breast milk and soap mix into molds

Step 4:

Put the containers/molds into your refrigerator for a couple of hours to let them harden.

That’s all you have to do! Now you can use your breast milk soap for showers and baths.

Soap Base Options

Clear Glycerin Soap Base

White Glycerin Soap Base

Oatmeal Soap Base

Shea Butter Soap Base

Soap Molds

Square, Round, and Oval Molds (Including “100% Handmade” mold)

Rectangular Loaf Mold

Use Oils and Natural Ingredients to Add Beauty and Fragrance to Your Homemade Soap

If you want to make your breast milk soap fancier, you can try adding extra ingredients like oatmeal or poppy seeds. Both are great for exfoliation.

Honey is another ingredient that can enhance your homemade soap by making it more moisturizing. Check out these organic soap bases that already contain honey, coconut oil, palm oil, and safflower oil.

You can also use these powdered pigments to add different colors and shimmer to your soap. This set contains 24 packets and won’t break the bank, so there are bound to be a couple colors you feel you can use freely and for experimental purposes before using your favorites.

You might also want to add fragrance to your soap. I leave the soap for my children fragrance-free, but when I make soap for myself, my husband, and others, I sometimes like to add an essential oil or two for fragrance. Essential oils like lavender are great for relaxation. Lemon mixed with lemongrass or ginger can create a refreshing and energizing soap. And citrus combinations like grapefruit, lemon, and orange can be mixed with an earthy oil like cedarwood for a more airy fragrance. Some people will tell you not to buy any oils that don’t say Young Living or DoTerra on them, but if you read the reviews for this brand on Amazon it looks like they’re working out pretty good for most people.

Vitamin E oil can be a great addition to skincare products and is said to be a natural preservative.

I’ve even used regular coffee grounds in homemade soap and it’s delightful! It helps with exfoliation and smells great even without the need for essential oils or added fragrances.

I hope this helps! Please keep in mind that the information contained in this article is for educational purposes only and is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease. Breast milk soap works great for my family, but your mileage may vary. Happy soapmaking!

Have you ever made your own breast milk soap?

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You Can Start a Blog in Less than 15 Minutes

June 20, 2019 by bflife Leave a Comment

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How to Quickly and Easily Start a Profitable WordPress Blog hosted by Bluehost

Getting your WordPress blog up and running on Bluehost is really easy.

Go to Bluehost and click on the green “get started” button.

Select the hosting package you want.

If you are new to blogging and you want a hosting plan with the lowest cost, the “Basic Plan” will get you going. For those of you who are just getting started, the 12 month plan is a great price and very affordable for your first year of blogging. Plus, you’ll get the free domain name when you sign up for the 12-month plan (or greater), which saves you some dough. The very best value is in the 36-month plan, which reduces the monthly fee the most over the long term.

The Basic Plan will get you going, so you can move past the Plus and Prime plans, which cost more (but they also offer more features). If you find yourself in the awesome position of having a blog with booming stats, you can always change your plan later and just pay the difference. For now, there is no reason to sign up for extra web space or features you do not need.

If you have already purchased a domain name, enter it here. Or, sign up for a new domain name. And remember, you get a free domain name when you purchase a plan of at least 12 months.

If you don’t want to enter a domain name yet, you don’t have to. You can just click on “Choose Free Domain Later” (a popup will appear after just a few seconds) and move to the next steps.

Enter your contact information and your payment information.

Choose a password that is both secure and one you can remember. Or, just log in with Google.

If you already have a domain name, now you can get started on your blog. If not, keep reading for tips on choosing one.

You will see an option to purchase Domain Privacy Protection as well, and you will want to purchase that. Domain Privacy Protection keeps your contact information private.

If you don’t have ideas for a domain name yet, no worries. You can always pick one later by clicking on “Choose Later!”

The overall value of purchasing a 36-month plan cannot be overstated, especially on a blog that is about making money. Saving money is a way to make money, too. When you sign up for a 36-month plan, you get a lower price per month, you get a free domain name, and you won’t have to spend extra time remembering to renew your plan every month. If you get really busy and forget to renew your monthly plan, your website could go down and you’ll lose valuable visitors and web traffic. Plus, it goes without saying that you will end up paying more overall per month if you are on a monthly plan. So a plan of at 36 months is the smart way to go. If you choose this term, you will save more money overall.

If you purchased your domain through Bluehost, your domain and your hosting are already connected. But if you purchased a domain elsewhere, you’ll need to connect that domain to your Bluehost hosting plan.

For example, if you already have a domain name through GoDaddy, then you will need to connect your GoDaddy domain to your Bluehost account. GoDaddy has a helpful support page for setting name servers for your domain names. Here is a brief extract from GoDaddy’s website:

“When you register a domain name with us, we set it up on our parked nameservers so a temporary page displays when visitors go to your website. After you determine which hosting provider to use, you can change your domain name’s nameservers to remove the parked page and activate your domain name.

If you registered your domain name with another provider, you can still purchase a hosting account with us, use our Off-site DNS services, or use our CashParking® or Quick Content services. If you do any of those, you must view your nameservers in your account with us, and then set the nameservers with your domain name registrar.”

Here are the steps to modify your DNS nameservers from Go Daddy to Bluehost:

First, go to GoDaddy.com and log into your Account Manager.
Choose “Manage Domains” from the Domains drop-down menu or the Manage Your Account list.
Choose the domain name you want to modify by using the checkbox and then select Set Name Servers.
Enter your new name server information in the text boxes under the Name Servers heading and click Save Changes. Your new name server entries should be: ns1.bluehost.com; ns2.bluehost.com.

After you complete these steps, you will need to add your existing domain (the one you purchased through GoDaddy) to your Bluehost web hosting plan. You can easily do this by clicking on “Domains” on the Bluehost menu (after logging into your Bluehost account) and then choosing “assign.” Easy as pie!

Choose an application for your blog (this post focuses on WordPress)

An application, also known as a content management system (CMS), is the platform you’ll use to get your blog on the web.

All applications have the ability to manage blogs, and they all include a templating system that allows you to control the appearance and style of your web pages. More advanced applications can include a nearly endless list of additional features, such as categories, commenting options, user logins controls, polls and statistics, file managers, FAQ managers, and so on.

There are several options available out there, but many require some coding knowledge.

WordPress does not require any coding knowledge whatsoever. That’s what makes it great and by far the most popular application for blogging.

You have two options for creating a WordPress blog: (a) You can create a WordPress blog that is hosted on WordPress.com, or (b) you can create a self-hosted blog using the WordPress application. The latter is the option you’ll want to choose, and here’s why.

In theory, you could start a blog through a site that offers free blog hosting, like Blogger or WordPress.com. So why wouldn’t you want to start a blog there for free? Well, first of all, you get what you pay for. And if you aren’t paying for anything, you can’t expect much to help you succeed.

WordPress.com offers very limited customization choices, it will cost you to upgrade your site in ways you could do for free if you’re self-hosted, and you won’t actually own the content you create there.

Who wants to give up that much control? A self-hosted blog gives you the creativity to craft your blog exactly how you want it. And you can retain control of the content you create.

Choose Your Niche

Before you start your blog, you need to know what you’re going to write about.

That is your niche—the specific topic or area that you want to be the focus of your blog.

If you’re a business, then your niche is already known. You’ll blog about issues that are relevant to your specific business.

If you’re starting the blog as an individual, your niche could be anything under the sun.

When choosing your niche, you should keep these things in mind:

Choose to write about something you enjoy. Something you’re passion about. Something that you just can’t wait to share with others. If you’re blogging about something mundane that you don’t really care about, blogging probably won’t be an enjoyable experience for you. The more fun you can have with your blog, the more you will enjoy it, the more you will want to write, and the more content you’ll have available for your readers to read.
Pick a niche that is robust. You need to have plenty of potential topics to share with your readers. A good blog contains plenty of interesting content that is relevant to the people who visit.
Help people solve a problem. This might be the most important thing to keep in mind.
Make yourself an authority in your niche. This is very important. You need to know what you’re talking about. Otherwise, why would people want to read your content? You can focus on a single point that you know very well. Are you great at cooking southern style food? What about helping people travel at a low cost? Maybe you’re a stay-at-home mom with great tips on how to raise small children at home. Or perhaps you’re a busy careerperson who has handy tips on juggling home and family life. Whatever it is, focus on a specific topic that you know very well. It will help you stand out against other bloggers.

If you can’t decide on a niche yet or are dealing with a bit of writer’s block, just start writing anyway and see where it takes you.

Choose a Theme.

There are literally thousands of WordPress themes to choose from. So how do you find the perfect one for you?

Your theme is the visual layout of your site. It’s what visitors will first see when the navigate to your blog, so it plays a very important role in how your site looks.

But that’s not all. Your theme also plays an extremely important role in how your site behaves, how it functions and performs, and how easily visitors can find the information they are looking for.

A good theme will not only make your blog look great. It will also help your blog load quickly and easily on both desktop and mobile devices.

WordPress is tremendously popular, so you can find WordPress themes for all sorts of different niches. For example, there are themes designed for traditional blogs, there are themes designed for photographers, there are themes designed for ecommerce stores, and there are even themes designed for viral news sites. There are also multipurpose themes that you can easily adapt to any type of niche.

Many themes come with both a free and a premium or pro version. This allows you to check out the look and feel of a theme, as well as its performance, and then decide whether you want to purchase a version with premium functionality.

How to Install a WordPress Theme

To easily install the theme you like, go to Appearance → Themes in your WordPress dashboard. Then, click Add New:

If your theme is listed at WordPress.org, you can type in the name of the theme to search for it. When you find it, click Install.

If you purchased a premium theme instead, then first simply click on the Upload button.

Then upload the zip file that you got with your purchase:

And there you go! It really couldn’t be any easier.

After you’ve installed your WordPress theme, you can easily update it by going to Appearance → Themes:

If you purchased a premium or pro theme, you might need to enter your license key before you can use this automatic update tool.

Another great thing about WordPress is if you do decide to change themes down the road, WordPress makes it really easy to do so.

Write content and add legal pages.

The next step for starting a blog is to write engaging content. If you’re having trouble deciding what to write, don’t despair. Write about what you already know, and if necessary, do further research to gather more information, examples, and data points to back up your statements. Feel free to quote other sources, provided you give proper attribution to the original authors. And don’t forget to add your privacy page if you’re collecting information from your users (through a contact form, for example) and a terms page if you are offering a product or service.

And there you have it! Enjoy, and have fun blogging!

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