Summer Sun and Treating Sunburns - General/Family Life

It's still full on summer season, if you're on my blog page you may have also noticed that I've changed the theme to correlate to the summer feel and colors too! :) I know korny but I like to keep the flow and colors with the season or whatever I'm doing. That's besides the point of course - squirrel!

So as I was saying, it's still summer and I realized that I should have posted this at the start of summer. Hopefully this helps many of you and especially others moms! Obviously there will be varied results because everyone's skin type is different and treatments may not work as fast or the best as what I write on here-just for your FYI. 

For starters, I hate using the Banana Boat brand not only on my kids but for myself. It leaves this awful oily sensation after spraying or rubbing it into your skin and the worst part is the sticky sensation as well! Then lets not forget about the fact that I have sensitive skin on my face (and yes that's not me just self diagnosing as many people do, I went to a specialist Dermatalogist to have that determined) and I noticed that using Banana Boat would have my breaking out after literally every use! It didn't matter whether it was a spray on or a rub in or whatever versions they have and it also didn't matter if I wiped it off right away or left it on as long as the directions instructed. So in my book this brand will always be a NAY. I'm not going to be going into every brand used as sunscreen but I started with this one at least because it's the most commonly used and I know it's purchased/sold literally EVERYWHERE.

So which one do I use you may ask and its one that I advocate for anyone (especially for your kids)...

I use and advocate using the Neutrogena brand and the image above shows the exact ones I use routinely and for the occasion, they are also approved by my doctor and have done really well for my kids and I; so much so that even my mom and sister like using it as well and they each have different types of skin types. Yes before any of you decide to point out, on my snapshot there's a CVS one and NO I DO NOT use that one but I didn't feel like cropping that one out to just copy and paste :p I found that the "roller" ones (the ones that look like deodorant sticks) are convenient and so easy use. I have one literally at home, in my vehicle, and I carry one around in my purse just in case! The specific ones I routinely purchase is the "Sheer Zinc" one that I use on my kids and the one I tend to carry around in my purse and vehicle is the "Mineral Ultra Sheer". The ones I purchase are the ones I also make sure that have for "face and body" in addition to making sure that they are waterproof. My kids and I tend to sweat a lot when it's super hot out so I found that the ones that have "waterproof" labeled helps and still works well when you're sweating in the sun!

The best part you don't have to worry about some oily feeling or sticky and the wait time for your activity after "rolling" it on your skin is pretty instant, so you can feel secure in being protected right after having put it on! I have also found that you don't have to worry about if it was evenly sprayed on or evenly spread by your hands because it's almost like you're "drawing" lines along your skin with the deodorant like stick design so you have an even coverage throughout!

NOW, we come to the treatment of sunburns! It's common knowledge and advertised to use aloe vera for sunburns I know, but I also know that a lot of those products can be expensive and/or are sometimes hard to find when you need them. SO I'm all about alternatives when I need it and being prepared; that means I've also done the trial and error (especially before I write a post about it). With that being said, I'm going to use a most recent event of sun exposure to exemplify my healing methods. I personally don't get red when I've had an extensive amount of sun exposure, on the contrary I bronze/tan after the sun exposure no matter what I'm doing, BUT some specific areas of my body will have this "red lining" mixed into the tanned area or I'll have what looks like a bruising design but slightly dark red coloring if it was an area that got the burn. So below is the example of what I'm talking about...

So the same day of the sun exposure I get home and shower, without scrubbing the skin at all though! I simply use the dove sensitive skin bar soap and rub in with my fingers. The reason why I don't scrub is because I don't want to irritate the skin especially not really knowing yet what area got more "burned" than others. Since I want to make sure that I'm still clean and that I get off all of the sunscreen layer, that's why I rub in the bar of soap and "scrub" with just my fingertips to clean up. I DO NOT use hot water not warm water; I use a slightly cooler water temperature than a "warm" temp; to help refreshen the skin and body heat so that I don't feel like I'm continuing to boil even after the sun exposure. When you finish in the shower and are trying to dry off, BE GENTLE when towel drying-a simply hard pat down is more than enough to absorb the water/moisture and be dry before you lather up the lotion. YUP you read right, now ititss time for the lathering up part of the sunburn healing process! These are the specific lotions that I stand by and advocate for anyone, to help with the burn! 

So as I mentioned this is the day of after the sunburn and I'm already towel dried. So for immediate use I use the Jergen's Ultra Healing lotion and I use a simple suggested amount on my palm to lotion up the whole body for that first layer. Then I follow-up with a generous amount in my hands to lather only the areas touched/burned by the sun. You will almost feel like "sucking" feeling from your skin if you pay attention and the areas that are either tender or that you feel to be slightly sensitive from after the sun exposure are now being soothed by the cold feeling of the lotion. I don't rub in this generous amount (second layer) of lotion but I rub it around enough so I don't look white. I'll make sure I have and only using cotton clothing and its clothing that I won't care if it sticks or has the excess lotion on it. If you don't want to feel a sticking sensation of your clothing then I don't recommend this for you BUT it does work so don't knock it till you try it! ;) So now I'm all comfortable and healing...if you're immediately going to bed than I suggest drinking at least 30mL of water before bed to take care of the hydration portion of the sun exposure you had your body go through. Because it's no joke when they tell you to stay hydrated and drink lots of water after you got your sunburn! It really goes a long way! NOW if you're like me when I have the sun exposure events, there's at least a few hours before bed SO I have plenty of time to drink at least 40 to 50mL of water, then right before bed I'll simply check the sunburnt area and if it doesn't feel as slick as then I lathered that excess lotion layer (the second layer) than I use the CeraVe lotion and lightly rub some of that lotion in for the night...by the next morning none of the burnt/tanned areas are sensitive or hurt and I don't have to worry as much for the types of clothing I use or the rubbing of clothing and anyone touching the areas of my body that were exposed to the sun. Of course I continue to drink plenty of fluids as well! 

So there ya go that's it in a nutshell! Usually by the next day I'm ready for some more sun but the max timeframe that it takes me to heal from a full fledge body exposure is about 2 days...

Sincerely,

A Distinct Woman

Breastfeeding Your Baby (it’s not easy) - Family Life

I had originally written this post a few years back when I had just had my second daughter, so I had to do some revisions as well as adding more to the original post. This post started about three weeks after having my second daughter. The original post will be centered where the additional information will be shown as left aligned. I hope you like this one because it was written with the emotions I had then (in that moment) with a little more emotions now in reminiscing…

The nights seem to be shorter than ever; I wouldn't say its necessarily because its more tiring but it really oddly does feel like the days have seemed to be dragging out a lot now. I guess I shouldn’t complain though since it gives me so much daylight with both my girls. The youngest is growing expeditiously, it seems almost impossible to tell that she's still a newborn baby meanwhile my oldest daughter is trying to cope with the new changes going on in her life. Specifically being that Mommy is resting a lot and not doing as many things with her throughout the day as before; I've forced myself to be moving around probably more than I should because I know my oldest needs me. Breast feeding has been going well and the little one’s appetite continues to grow every day. She’s really been working herself a little more here and there to her feeding needing to transition into milk that’s more substantial. It's amazing to notice all of the changes in my girls and within myself, but more importantly the changes from being a mom the first get go to being a mom the second time around. What do I mean? 

So the nights during my first daughter’s new life was a lot more exhausting, for lack of a better way to explain it. I'm going to deduce that the reason for that during my first daughter’s feeding was more because of the stress I was under and also the overall recovery from the surgery itself. Therefore nightly feedings then were more groggy and tended to entail more sleep throughout the night. I vividly remember always needing help; whether it was my mother getting the milk ready or doing the feeding herself while I was the one doing the milk prepping. Other nights I couldn't do either because I might've pushed myself harder through the day and I was just too exhausted at night; that's when my mom would do everything for the feeding time herself. See it was a little bit after arriving home from the hospital that I got to really begin breast feeding my oldest; sadly though because of the delivery I didn’t have the most memorable of feedings since it involved a rented out breast pump and I was nowhere near to producing the breast milk my baby needed. Formula was going to have to be used early on for her…

You see, the day I was to be discharged from the hospital they told me, that because of the magnesium that was used during my emergency c-section, the milk production wasn’t going to be the same or as usual for me and my daughter-but for me to not worry that babies thrive without concern even if little to no breastmilk is provided to them. That every drop I would give my daughter was necessary and vital for her growth, immunity, and for my continual milk production. For my health and well being I needed to get all the milk I would produce out as well, otherwise I could risk some health concerns in my breasts if I didn't. I don’t know how many reading are moms who have had a similar occurrence or have been told worse; perhaps know someone who’s gone through that but even after all the emotional roll-a-coaster I had nothing could keep my heart from dropping all over again. I felt a little bit like a zombie as everything was being explained to me. I mean what else could I do right?…I remember the moment the lactation nurse left, my tears I held in check finally fell down my cheeks. I had already gone through so much emotionally with the birth and the both of our physical healing post-partum, why couldn't it get a little easier now that the worst was over for both of us...I went into the bathroom in the hospital recovery room to gather myself because I know that my little one would be arriving and my family would be soon in my room too. To ensure that I would do as instructed I ended up renting a breast pump machine to take home. No matter the stories of all the women before you (of for those of you who bothered reading any of those maternity books because I definitely didn't), nothing and no one prepares you for the heart wrenching feeling you have as a new mom who can't feed her baby...I used to have countless feeding times or the times on the breast pump where I would cry in silence because I felt like I was only providing, not even half, of what my baby really needed from me. My oldest, to young and too soon got accustomed to baby formula. It wasn't until her three month check up that the pediatrician really explained to me how vital a mother's breast milk was to the newborn regardless of it's quantity, as long as it was directly coming from me. 

This time around I guess you could say that I'm actually enjoying the afterglow of pregnancy and post delivery. Yes I'm exhausted but I'm also euphoric because this time around I'm partaking in more things that unfortunately I wasn't able to fully enjoy or appreciate until it was already too late with my oldest, post delivery. Night feedings with my oldest didn't last long because she would be more full due to the formula milk so that in turn put her into a steady schedule for sleeping through the night from a month on. Granted this time around I don't get to sleep as much during the night because my youngest is always hungry and my milk production continues for her. But whether my youngest or oldest, I have to say there is something truly enchanting when you see this new baby's eyes looking up at you around 2am in the morning...Her trusting eyes look at me knowing that there's some kind of time difference for her compared to the day, but there's so much unknown trust and love for you as she's looking at you. No one can can begin to fathom unless or until they have their child in their arms. There were minimal or more like close to no "hard nights" as many other women say or tell. I was blessed with the wisdom my mother and grandmother gave me, so both my daughters have been sleeping beautifully through the night. Although, I can probably count on one hand the difficult nights that I had with both of them. That's when it hit me, to write about one of the few occurrences where it was both hard and emotional for me...

One night (about a month and a half after my youngest's birth) it was the feeding time for my youngest. My mother had already helped so much and I frankly didn't feel like waking up ex husband (now anyway because we were married at that time) because I didn't feel like dealing with his half efforts. If you're thinking or asking, yes he was helpful to a very small extent; he would do something than either go back to sleep or he would be half asleep doing something that I needed done five minutes ago (men when they try, they just need to frankly try harder-no offense guys). My newest little one was wailing her head off she was  so hungry, so I tried to make sure that she wasn't waking anyone up...My little one apparently woke up with a tummy who was starving! So I wasn't able to pump the milk in advance as I was usually doing, so out came out the breast and I began to breast fed her straight. I automatically knew in that moment that it wasn't going to be an easy feeding time for her and that I would have to war up a formula milk to "top her off". However, that didn't help in my already over stressed like feeling from earlier that week. I was so stressed that week so my milk production wasn't that high as normal. The moment I was adjusting myself in the sitting position, her little mouth on my breast was dislodged from it's location; so the moment I took baby girl away from my breast she started to cry. I quickly made sure that all doors were closed and that the people I didn't want to wake up wouldn't be awoken by her cry's. I started to warm up the milk and my baby kept wailing out loud, everything that would help her for a bit didn't help. 

She was inconsolable even the moment that the milk bottle was ready. I had to try to calm her before even giving her the bottle so that she would take it. I remember that I started to tear up, that I felt the tears rolling down my cheeks as I watched her finally suckling on the bottle nipple. I began to cry harder as I caressed the right side of her face while she ate. I started imagining the moms with no help or assistance from anyone/family...I started thinking about the women who were as surprised as I was when I was first pregnant - you don't really know what to do...How they must feel in their desperation to console and provide for the baby but feel has if they have nothing to offer due to the circumstances. 

I hope that someone gives them the support they need. That someone can give them hope. That someone can tell them, it's ok. It's hard but it's ok. You're doing the best that you could be doing and don't think that it isn't enough! I couldn't help but cry more on thinking how difficult it could or must feel for a mom who can't produce breast milk and instead spends so much money on formula. I hope and pray for the women, who doesn't get to feel the most intimate of moments with your baby as you breast feed them-it's ok if you didn't or don't-it doesn't make you less of a mom and your baby knows you love them. I pray for the moms who do it alone-that they can find hope and know their rainbows will come and the hard days will walk hand in hand with the good. I hope that the moms who've loved and lost their little ones-without experiencing the full extents of motherhood-know that you're baby is in a beautiful place and there's nothing wrong with still remembering them, it wasn't anything that you did wrong...for the moms who see no hope in conception, there's always adoption-so many children who have always wished for the warm embrace of a loving parent, they may be the perfect fit for you. In general, moms need hope, love, support, and a caring touch too...

Sincerely,

A Distinct Woman