The Many Uses of Breastmilk

PineBurrowFarm

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:D I have used many of these things and it always works great... Got a nursing mother around? Put her to use as the walking medicine cabinet! :gig Down lower on the list are some recipes using Breastmilk as well and a soap recipe...

First-Aid Eye
infections: Squirt in an open or closed eye. If the eye is closed havethe person lie back, squirt it, then open his or her eye. 4 times or more per day.

Plugged eye ducts: Squirt into the eye crease at the nose. Do this 4 times one day and 2 times the next.

Conjunctivitis ("Pink Eye"): Same as Plugged eye ducts, but continue with 4 times daily until the crust is gone.

Sties: Same as Conjunctivitis.

Sore/cracked nipples: Rub into nipples and air dry.

Scratches: Squirt and air dry, bandage, etc. as normal.

Scrapes: Same as scratches.

Burns: Same as scratches.

Gouges: Same as scratches.

Diaper rash: Squirt and air dry.

Mosquito bites: Squirt on bite and rub in. Stops the itching.

Ant bites: Same as mosquito bites.

Ear infections: Squirt or pour into sore ear. Can follow with warm (not hot) olive oil and garlic.

Acne: Wash face with water, then follow with breastmilk squirted onto a cotton (be sure it's cotton, that synthetic stuff can scratch the surface of your skin and cause problems) puff and apply all over face.

Sore throats: Anyone who will let you can be helped by a squirt of
breastmilk. Either by direct squirt or if applied from a sterile plastic cup.

Stuffy noses: Squirt into nose and suction or squeeze out as you would withsaline.

Contact lenses: If you have an irritant under your lens and forgot youreye drops, take it out, hand express to get a nice little stream going to rinse contact off.

Eye puffiness and redness: Express breastmilk and pour over eyes. Does asgood of job, if not better, than tea bags!

Cold sores/Fever blisters: Express a small amount of breastmilk onto cleanfinger and apply immediately to cold sore. Ends pain and helps speed the healing process.

Chicken pox: Use as you would Calamine Lotion or some other ointment.

Chapped lips/skin: Express a small amount onto fingers and wipe over lips or skin. Do not rub it in...leave a little wet. (This feels great on my chapped lips and it normally only takes a day or two to clear!)

If you have an older child/spouse who is ill, give them some breastmilk. It's a great immunity boost!


Teething Biscuit
1 egg 1/4 tsp. salt
1 cup spelt flour
2 Tbs. maple syrup
1 Tbs. Soy flour
1 Tbs. breastmilk
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Beat the egg in a mixing bowl, add maple syrup and mix well.
Add remaining ingredients and mix thoroughly. Roll onto a flour-dusted
surface until about 1 inch thick, and cut into size/shape you want.
Place on a greased cookie sheet and cook for 7 minutes, flip over and cookfor 4 more minutes.


MothersMilk Soap
32 (4-ounce) bars
Ingredients:
3 lbs. vegetable shortening
17 ounces dark olive oil
18 ounces Safflower oil
6 cups thawed breastmilk (you can use any amount of breastmilk you like and substittute the rest with goatsmilk, just make sure your total fluid volume reaches 6 cups).
12 ounces pure sodium hydroxide (lye)
1 ounce Borax
2 TBS honey
(optional: 1 ounce Essential oil and/or dry medicinal herbs)
Ice Cubes

Tool List:
Stainless steel pans
wooden or stainless steel spoons
newspaper to cover counter tops
candy thermometer
measuring cup
scale
blender

Cautions:
***Wear Gloves and protective eye-wear when making soap...lye burns!!
****Use only stainless steel pans for making soap - DO NOT use aluminum!!

Directions:
Melt the vegetable shortening in a sauce pan (about 8 quart size) and add the oils. Bring temp up slowly until the shortening is all melted.
Don't over heat or scorch the oils.

Plug your kitchen sink.
Fill half way with water and add about 3 dozen ice cubes.

Put thawed cold breastmilk in a sauce pan (about 3 quart size), and place the sauce pan into the water.
You *must* keep the milk cool when you add the lye to it or the lye will burn it and make it unusable (and unpleasant smelling!)

Slowly stir in the sodium hydroxide (lye) stirring constantly and occasionally circulating the outer ice water. The lye is going to heat the milk up as you stir it in.
Avoid breathing the fumes by working in a well ventilated area.

Adding the lye should take at least 5 minutes, any faster and you will burnout your milk. If you accidentally splash any on yourself, rinse immediately!

Once combined, continue to stir the milk/lye mixture for just a few more minutes (three maybe) and then remove from the water bath and set aside. You will notice that the milk/lye mixture steadily becomes yellowish in color. That is normal.

Add the honey and borax to your melted oil which should still be warm but not hot (115 degrees or so).

Now, slowly and carefully pour the milk/lye mixture into the pan of oil.

Stir constantly until it is all mixed together.

This mixture must now be whipped in a blender (2/3's full at a time for safety sake). Run the blender at whip speed for 60 seconds each time.
Pour off into a clean pan.

Repeat the blender process a second time.
This is when you would add your essential oils, or dry herbs.

Once the mixture has been blended twice, it will be ready to pour into a mold where it will saponify.
(A good mold can be made out of a cardboard box lined with plastic coated lightly with oil first, or I use freezer paper in a wooden boxof about 16"x18" size.)

I usually let my soaps rest eight weeks before cutting, and then let rest another 24 hours before wrapping (if I do wrap)
Some folks cut their soaps sooner if they are to be used immediately.


Mothers milk Yogurt
1. Heat 1 quart of milk to 180-185 degrees (use a candy thermometer). You can do this by putting it in a pan, or inside a glass jar set inside a pan, with water surrounding it. Heat slowly & stir often to prevent scorching. Don't boil. Of course, you can do the same with smaller quantities--just reduce the amt. of starter proportionately. The temperatures and times stay the same.

2. Cool the milk to about 110-115 degrees. Add yogurt starter, either powdered commercial yogurt starter (which is what I used--a little more reliable), or 2 Tablespoons of very fresh plain yogurt that contains live, active cultures. Next time you can just use 2 T. of this batch of yogurt as starter, unless you go a long time between batches.

3. Let the yogurt incubate. Basically, this means keep it at 105-112F for 4-12 hours, depending on how tart & thick you want it (it gets tarter and thicker, the longer it incubates.) This is much easier than it sounds--you can put it in a pre-warmed thermos, put it in a jar inside a picnic cooler of water at about 115 degrees (the method I used), wrapped in a towel in a warm oven, in a heating pad wrapped in towels, etc. Any method to keep it warm, and not move it much, will work. In my little picnic cooler, the water would stay warm enough for 6-8 hours if I didn't open the lid. I started with it at almost 120 degrees, and it was generally not down to 105 when it was done.

4. Refrigerate the finished yogurt.

5. Add any flavorings you like: fruit puree, vanilla, chocolate syrup, etc.


Mini-Momsicles:
1) Freeze water about half way up on the popsicle mold, and then once it's frozen use wax paper, or saran and "layer" so you can break the water part off once the breastmilk is frozen. Once you have the layer poked in you can then pour the breastmilk and put the "stick" in & freeze.
2) Freeze breastmilk in clean ice cube trays. Store the cubes in a heavy-duty FREEZER bag. Place a "cube" in a Baby Safe Feeder and let baby chew on it. Using the Baby Safe Feeder keeps the "cube" from being too slippery for baby to handle. Note that babies who have teeth may tear the net!


Baby's First Smoothie:
1/2 banana
1/2 cup breast milk
1/4 cup apple juice
Then Blend!


Mamas milk ice cream
1/2 cup Breast milk
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1 tablespoon sugar
4 cups crushed ice
4 tablespoons salt
2 quart size Zip-loc bags
1 gallon size Zip-loc freezer bag
a hand towel or gloves to keep fingers from freezing as well!

Mix the milk, vanilla and sugar together in one of the quart size bags. Seal tightly, allowing as little air to remain in the bag as possible. Too much air left inside may force the bag open during shaking. Place this bag inside the other quart size bag, again leaving as little air inside as possible and sealing well. By double-bagging, the risk of salt and ice leaking into the ice cream is minimized. Put the two bags inside the gallon size bag and fill the bag with ice, then sprinkle salt on top. Again let all the air escape and seal the bag. Wrap the bag in the towel or put your gloves on, and shake and massage the bag, making sure the ice surrounds the cream mixture. Five to eight minutes is adequate time for the mixture to freeze into ice cream.


Breastmilk Butter
1-2 ounce breast milk clean jar
1. In a freshly cleaned jar, preferably sterile, add the breastmilk.
2. Screw the lid on tight and shake furiously until you have butter.


BREASTMILK BREAD STARTER
2 1/2 cups warm (110 degrees) breastmilk
1 package (1 tablespoon) active dry yeast
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon sugar

In glass or ceramic bowl, soften the yeast in 1/2 cup breastmilk. Stir in the remaining 2 cups breastmilk, flour and sugar. Cover loosely with a dish towel and let stand at room temperature until bubbly. This may take up to 10 days--the warmer the room, the quicker the fermentation. Stir 2 to 3 times a day. The starter will develop a strong "sour" odor as it ferments. When fermentation has occurred, refrigerate the starter until needed.

To keep the starter going: After using 1 cup of starter, add to the remaining 3/4 cup of water or breastmilk, 3/4 cup flour and 1 teaspoon sugar. Stir well. Let stand at room temperature until bubbly, at least 1 day. Cover and refrigerate. If not used within 10 days, stir in 1 teaspoon of sugar. Repeat the addition of 1 teaspoon of sugar every 10 days.


COTTAGE CHEESE
16 cups milk (breastmilk)
1/2 cup non-fat dry milk
1 cup buttermilk
Salt, to taste

Pour the milk into a 6 quart stainless steel pot. Stir in the dry milk. Set the pot into a larger pot, double boiler fashion, filling the larger pot with enough water to come up the side of the smaller pot about 1/2 of the way.

Get the milk to 86F: turn the heat on under the larger pot for 2 or 3 minutes, stirring the milk slowly. Then turn off the heat, not stirring and wait a few minutes. Check the temperature, and if it is not warm enough repeat the procedure. Add the buttermilk to the milk. Stir well. By covering the pot and checking the temperature a few times, hold the temperature at 86F for 12 hours. This allows the curd to form. The curd should be custard like.

Cut the curd into 1/2" pieces. Allow the cut curd to set for about 30 minutes to allow more of the whey to separate, keeping the temperature at 86F. Then slowly begin to cook the curd until the temperature reaches 100F. Use the same method of heating as before.

Don't hurry the process; it should take about 30 minutes.

Stir gently once in awhile for even heating and to prevent the curd from sticking together. This will also allow you to cut up any oversize curd. As the temperature rises, it will require more frequent stirring as it firms and separates from the whey. Remove curds from the heat as soon as they firm and reach the desired temperature.

Line a large colander with 2 layers of clean cheese cloth. Using a measuring cup, scoop out the curd into the colander. Allow to drain for several minutes, then rinse curd by immersing the cheese cloth and curd in lukewarm water. Allow to drain for several more minutes. Place drained curd into a large bowl. Sprinkle with about 1 tablespoon of salt and mix with hands to blend evenly. Put into a covered container and chill. When cool, taste for salt and add if needed. You'll get about 1 1/2 pounds.


Creamed Bananas
* 2 ripe bananas, sliced into small pieces
* 1/2 cup breastmilk
* Pinch of sugar

Blend ingredients in bowl until creamy; stores well in refrigerator.


Baby Carrots and Brown Rice
* 1 cup water
* 3 to 4 carrots, sliced 1/2-inch thick
* 1/4 cup breastmilk
* 1/4 cup cooked brown rice or 3 oz. soft tofu

Bring water to a boil in a saucepan fitted with a steamer basket. Add the carrots to the steamer, cover and steam until tender, about 10 minutes.

Place the carrots in a blender or food processor and add the breastmilk and puree. Add more breastmilk until you reach the desired consistency. Add brown rice to make a complete meal.


Pasta Dinner
* 1/2 carrot, cut into 1/8-inch thick slices
* 1/4 cup cut green beans
* 1/2 cup cooked pasta
* 1 fresh tomato, peeled, seeded and cut up
* 1/4 drained canned chick-peas
* 1/4 cup breastmilk

Steam the carrots and green beans together until tender, about 5 minutes. Combine the pasta, tomato, chick-peas, carrots and green beans in a food processor, food mill or blender and process until smooth.

You may need to add breastmilk to the mixture. Add 2 tablespoons at a time and blend until smooth. Serve warm or at room temperature.


SCRAMBLED EGGS & CHEESE
Yields: 2 servings
2 eggs*
2 tbs breast milk
2 tbs shredded mild cheddar or American cheese.
1/2 tsp sweet-cream butter

WHIP the eggs & milk until foamy.
ADD cheese.
COOK mixture in a small frying pan
(I find the non-stick kind the best) with the butter for about 4 minutes.
STIR constantly to prevent the eggs from being crispy.
COOL to warm & serve.


ZWIEBACK
1/2 cup of breast milk
1 pkg of active dry yeast
1/4 cup of sugar
1/4 cup of melted sweet cream butter
1/4 tsp of salt
1/4 tsp ground anise
3 unbeaten eggs*
3 cups of unbleached flour

SCALD the milk.
COOL to lukewarm.
ADD yeast to the milk.
ALLOW to top rise. (6 minutes)
ADD sugar, butter, anise, eggs.
STIR until ingredients are well blended.
ADD enough flour to handle the dough.
KNEAD until smooth, adding remaining flour as needed (Or kneaded, ha ha.)
LET rise in a warm place for 1 hour or until doubled in size.
ROLL out dough to inch thickness.
CUT into strips 1 inch wide, then cut the strips to 3 inches long.
PLACE on a buttered cookie sheet, 1 and a half inches apart.
LET rise again for 30 minutes.
BAKE for 20 minutes at 400f.**


APPLE COBBLER
for pie a-la-mode mix in some breast milk and the tiniest drip of vanilla extract

3 very clean cooking apples
1 egg yolk*
1 tsp water
1 tsp brown sugar
pinch of cinnamon
oatmeal cereal, to mix (if desired)

PEEL, remove seeds & chop into very thin slices.
COOK with the lemon juice & water in a small saucepan for 20 minutes or until soft.
MASH or puree the fruit.
STIR in the egg yolk & sugar until smooth.
BAKE at 350F for 15 min or until set.
COOL before serving
STORE extra servings in the refrigerator or freezer.


APPLE PIE
Yields: 4 servings.
for pie a-la-mode mix in some breast milk and a tiny drip of vanilla extract

3 cooking apples.
1 egg yolk*
tsp lemon juice
1 tsp brown sugar
1 tsp of water or apple juice
pinch of cinnamon

PEEL, core and slice the apple in very small pieces.
COOK with the lemon juice & water in a small saucepan for 20 minutes or until soft.
MASH or puree the fruit.
STIR in the egg yolk & sugar until smooth.
BAKE at 350F for 15 min or until set.
COOL before serving
STORE extra servings in the refrigerator or freezer.



BANANA PUREE
1 very ripe banana*
2 tbs of breast milk
Baby cereal** (for thickening if needed)

WASH the outside of the banana peel carefully, then remove peel.
SLICE into small circles, to make it easier for mashing.
MASH with a fork.
ADD cereal to thicken, if needed.
STIR until very smooth.
SERVE, refrigerate or freeze.

If the banana turns brown shortly after mashing it's ok - as long as it is consumed within a half an hour of preparation.


BANANA & OATMEAL BREAKFAST
1 very ripe banana*
1/4 cup rolled quick oats
3/4 cup breast milk

COMBINE oats and 1/2 cup breast milk.
COOK in a small sauce pan, bringing it to a boil.
SIMMER over low heat for 5 minutes; stir occasionally.
MASH or puree the banana with the remaining milk.
COMBINE banana and oatmeal mixtures.
STIR until very smooth.
COOL well before serving.
SERVE, refrigerate or freeze.


PEACH COBBLER
for pie a-la-mode mix in some breast milk and the tiniest drip of vanilla extract

3 very soft ripe peaches, washed.
1 egg yolk*
1 tsp water
1 tsp brown sugar
pinch of cinnamon
oatmeal cereal, to mix (if desired)

PEEL, remove pit and slice the peach in very small pieces.
COOK with the lemon juice & water in a small saucepan for 20 minutes or until soft.
MASH or puree the fruit.
STIR in the egg yolk & sugar until smooth.
BAKE at 350F for 15 min or until set.
COOL before serving
STORE extra servings in the refrigerator or freezer.


PEACH COBBLER for wee ones
1 very ripe peach
a few tsp baby oatmeal cereal*
1-2 ounces breast milk
tiniest pinch of cinnamon (optional)

PEEL, remove pit (discard both the pit & peel) & slice the peach into small chunks.
MASH or puree the fruit.
ADD cinnamon (optional), breast milk & cereal until the desired consistency is reached.
STIR until smooth.
STORE extra servings in the refrigerator or freezer.

Mamas milk Lotion
* 1 cup dried chamomile
* 4 tablespoons honey
* 1 cup milk
* 8 teaspoons wheat germ
Steep chamomile in milk for a few hours. Strain, keeping liquid. Add honey and wheat germ to liquid mixture. Blend well. Place in a bottle. Refrigerate any used portions. Keeps up to a week.


Milk & Honey Oatmeal Bath.
1 1/2 cup oats, wrapped in a small muslin bag or cheesecloth.
1 cup breast milk
1 Tbsp honey.

Run bath water, allowing water to run through the oat bag. Warm the milk to scalding (not boiling) and dissolve honey into the warmed milk. Add the milk and honey blend to the bath water. Enjoy!
 

Beekissed

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:| At first I thought you were joking....

That all sounds....er....lovely! How does one even find out all those uses for breast milk? No, don't tell me, I want to keep my lunch down! :p All I can picture is the squirting breast milk..... :ep
 

Beekissed

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Now, folks you never know when this information will come in handy, so don't dismiss it! There could be a time when this will help someone in an emergency. :) Thank you, PBF, and don't let our obvious discomforture keep you from posting good ideas! ;)

Having said that, I will say I never, ever heard of anything like this in my life! And I'm a nurse! :D
 

patandchickens

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As, uh, I will say 'surprising' as the latter part of the list is, and as much as one might speculate on, er, the full intentions of its original author ;), I have to point out that the items on the FIRST part are actually pretty commonly done (AFAIK) and quite useful.

Breastmilk *is* a pretty reasonable antiseptic and healing aid for any sort of external owie. On children or yourself. Not just for emergencies, for anytime.

Plus, you know, totally free and if you've got a baby around it's always available, it's not like you have to go rummaging in the medicine chest or spend gas money driving down to the drugstore to get a boob :p


Pat
 

Cassandra

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:lol:

I remember learning about a lot of that stuff when I was BFing my younger son. I never cooked with it or anything, my husband & older son would have been MORTIFIED. But I did use it externally on myself for skin conditions--mainly out of curiosity.

It is so so funny to me that people think nothing of using milk from a cow or a goat but are repulsed by the thought of human milk. I'm not picking on anyone. It really is funny to me! And if the OP had said, goat milk makes a great acne wash we would have been like AWESOME.

It won't hurt you. Seriously. LOL

Cassandra
 

heatherv

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:D Have to say this made me lol!

I've spent more than half of the past 11 years breastfeeding.. and well, w/ a few of my kids allergic to cow milk and soy milk... I did use my pumped breast milk in their cereal, cups, muffins for quite awhile. I knew it had antiseptic properties, but never thought about whippin' it out to squirt it on an owie! :lol: Sorry.. still makes me lol to think about it!

I couldn't imagine the looks I'd get from family members! me whippin' it out: "hey.. hold still... I'm gonna squirt some of this in yer eye...come on, it'll make it feel better" hehehehe!
 

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