Why and How to Make a Breast Milk Bath
I am in an unusual season of life where I am not with my kids most weekends, which of course, includes my breastfed toddler. An unexpected side effect is that I now have a lot of pumped milk in my freezer. Sadly, Mercy doesn't drink it because, I suppose, she prefers it straight from the tap. This has led me on a journey of finding other ways to use breastmilk, and one of them is a breast milk bath.
In this post we will go over why someone would make a breast milk bath and then how to make a breast milk bath. Let's get started!
Why Make a Breast Milk Bath?
Once I realized my freezer was becoming full of breastmilk that my toddler wasn't going to drink, I began researching other uses for breastmilk. A good friend of mine suggested a "milky bath" or a breast milk bath. Here's what I found a breast milk bath to be helpful with.
- Moisturizing dry skin
- Healing diaper rash
- Soothing red, irritated skin
- Healing scratched skin and other minor skin abrasions
- Helping take the itch out of bug bites
Frankly, a breast milk bath will do no harm and if you have irritated skin, what have you got to lose other than a little bit of breastmilk? Give it a try, come back and comment and let me know how it went.
The photos below are of my daughters taking a breast milk bath, but the real reason I wanted to make a breast milk bath was for my seven year old son. For years, he has had dry skin - his arms, legs, trunk... everywhere!
Since we have been following the instructions below, including the post bath moisturizer, his dry skin has cleared up considerably. Even the raw, red bumps on the back of his thighs look better! As long as I can, I will make breast milk baths part of our weekly (daily?) routine.
How to Make a Breast Milk Bath
Here are the simple instructions of how to make a breast milk bath. No worries, it's really easy! I like easy.
Step 1: Get a bag or two of breastmilk out of the freezer, fridge OR pump what you can.
Step 2: Pour enough breastmilk into the water to make the water cloudy. You don't need much! I was feeling generous so I drew a large bath and used around 10 ounces.
Step 3: Soak as much affected skin as possible. Consider reclining in the tub! The more skin exposed to the breast milk bath, the better.
Step 4: After a good soak, gently pat skin dry.
Step 5: To lock the breastmilk in the skin, use a good skin moisturizer like coconut oil.
TIP: If the amount of breastmilk you have available is limited, consider doing a breastmilk bath in the kitchen sink. Since a sink bath requires less water, you'll need less breastmilk to make the water cloudy.
TIP: Don't skip step 5, moisturizing the skin after the bath! You'll get more bang for your buck using a moisturizer after a breast milk bath.
TIP: Don't PUMP AND DUMP! If you need to pump and dump, for whatever reason, use it in a breastmilk bath instead.
Leave a Comment
Have you ever made a breast milk bath? If so, leave a comment and let me know your experience! I'd love to hear more.
Thanks! I am going to try this for diaper rash. I actually donated almost 500 oz of milk but I have more that has small amounts of caffeine that I can't feed my LO because of her SVT so I can use some for her tubbies!
I have some pumped milk we found in our deep freeze from our first daughter 2 years ago. Do you think we could use this for a bath or should we toss this milk out? I hate to waste it, but apparently it got hidden.
Thaw one out and smell it. I bet your nose will let you know.
You don't have to rinse the milk off ? I would think it makes baby smell like cheese if you just leave the milk on ?
Nope. Baby smells delicious.
I have lupus and battle skin rashes frequently because of sun exposure. Yesterday I took the plunge and bathed in my sister's breast milk. She was on prednisone for a while for a rash a few months back and had to pump and dump, but she saved the milk for me. I finally did it and I swear it's better. I will be doing this again today and tomorrow and until it's gone.
I'm thinking I would give
To my
Older children. I breastfed three kids each for a long time but I stayed at home and didnt pump.
I actually shared a milk bath with my daughter at one point because I was severely sunburned. I can't tell you how much it helps rather than suffer for a days in pain I was able to clear up the burn in less than 24 hours.
I have a good bit of colostrum frozen that I was saving for if Baby were to get a cold... but would it be better for a milk bath or would u suggest just using “regular” breast milk?
I would save colostrum for when your little one is sick to get the most benefit & just use regular milk for milk bath. If you ever pump & little one doesn't drink the whole bottle you can save it for a milk bath!
So you don’t rinse after the bath? Just get out of the milk bath and dry off?
Nope! Yup!
My baby has a severe rash due to antibiotics. Do you think maybe saturating a washcloth with the breast milk and leaving it on his bottom as a compress would be better then the bath or just the milk bath?
No. If it's a rash from antibiotics, it's probably a yeast rash and milk will make it worse.
How long or how many times of milk bath to clear off the eczema?
My two month old has been taking breast milk baths almost everyday since he was about two weeks old and a weird rash appeared and we found out he has sensitive skin...and it's been fantastic! Not only has his rash disappeared but his skin remains soft. We cover him with aqueous cream as opposed to soap, and this doubles as a moisturiser. Thankfully I have more than enough milk to spare!!
That's amazing!
Do you start pumping to help produce milk for your grandbaby? How did you do it?
I have some frozen milk from before my daughter went dairy free. One of our symptoms of her dairy allergy was a fade rash - do you think I could use my tainted milk for a bath for her? Or because we had a skin symptoms probably not a good idea?
That's a really good question! Assuming she doesn't drink the bath water, I would think that it would be ok. But I have no experience with dairy allergies and breastmilk, so I could be way off. If you do try it, let me know what your experience was!
Would this help with baby acne? My LO just turned 6 weeks and in the last week or so has developed small bumps all over her cheeks. At first I thought it was heat rash from laying skin to skin while sleeping/breast feeding but it has only gotten worse and I am breaking out now also so assuming its baby acne and feel awful that her soft skin is so bumpy because of my horomones.
It wouldn't hurt to try! Keep us posted and let us know how it goes. 🙂
I overproduce SO much that I'm donating a ton of milk... Probably over 500 ounces now. But whenever I take an allergy pill, they can't except any milk for 5 days. My "bad" milk was accumulating and the freezer had no room so I used like 100 ounces for a milk bath. With that much milk in the bath.... It smells like spit up, but my baby sure does seem refreshed and moisturized!