How do you make soap for baby breast milk?

The Art of Making Soap with Breast Milk
In recent years, the trend of utilizing leftover breast milk to create homemade soap has gained popularity among breastfeeding parents. This innovative approach not only helps reduce waste but also harnesses the natural benefits of breast milk, which is known for its moisturizing properties and skin-nourishing qualities. Here’s a detailed guide on how to make breast milk soap, ensuring it’s safe and beneficial for your baby’s delicate skin.
Understanding the Benefits of Breast Milk Soap
Breast milk is often referred to as “liquid gold” due to its rich nutritional profile, which is perfectly tailored for infants. Beyond its dietary advantages, breast milk contains natural fats and sugars that can be incredibly beneficial for the skin. These components help to moisturize and soothe, making breast milk soap an excellent choice for babies, especially those with sensitive skin or conditions like eczema.
Ingredients and Equipment Needed
To make breast milk soap, you will need the following ingredients:
– Breast Milk: Fresh or frozen, but ensure it’s properly thawed if using from the freezer.
– Lye (Sodium Hydroxide): Essential for the saponification process, which turns oils into soap. Handle with care, as lye is caustic.
– Oils: Common choices include olive oil, coconut oil, and palm oil. Each oil contributes different properties to the soap.
– Distilled Water: Used to dissolve the lye.
– Optional Additives: Essential oils for fragrance, natural colorants, or other skin-nourishing ingredients like honey or oatmeal.
You will also need safety gear (gloves and goggles), a digital scale for precise measurements, a stick blender, soap molds, and a thermometer.
Step-by-Step Process
1. Safety First: Before starting, ensure you’re wearing gloves and goggles to protect yourself from lye. Work in a well-ventilated area.
2. Prepare the Lye Solution: Measure the distilled water and lye separately. Slowly add the lye to the water (never the other way around) while stirring gently until it dissolves. This mixture will heat up and release fumes, so allow it to cool in a safe place.
3. Measure Oils: While the lye solution cools, measure your oils. Combine them in a pot and heat gently until they are melted and combined.
4. Combine Lye and Oils: Once both the lye solution and oils are around the same temperature (ideally between 95°F and 105°F), slowly pour the lye solution into the oils while blending with a stick blender. Blend until you reach “trace,” which is when the mixture thickens and leaves a trail on the surface.
5. Add Breast Milk: At this stage, gently fold in the breast milk. It’s crucial to do this after reaching trace to prevent the milk from curdling due to the heat of the lye.
6. Pour into Molds: Once the breast milk is incorporated, pour the soap mixture into molds. Tap the molds gently to remove air bubbles.
7. Cure the Soap: Cover the molds with a towel and let them sit for 24 to 48 hours until they harden. After this period, remove the soap from the molds and cut it into bars.
8. Saponification Process: Allow the soap bars to cure in a cool, dry place for about 4 to 6 weeks. This time is essential for the saponification process to complete, ensuring the soap is safe for use.
Final Thoughts
Making breast milk soap is not only a creative way to utilize leftover milk but also a thoughtful gift for your baby’s skin. The moisturizing properties of breast milk can help soothe and nourish, making it a gentle option for infants. As with any homemade product, always conduct a patch test before using it on your baby’s skin to ensure there are no adverse reactions. With careful preparation and attention to detail, you can create a unique and beneficial soap that celebrates the nurturing qualities of breast milk.

What kind of soap do you use to clean a breast pump?

Cleaning Breast Pump Parts
It is not possible to completely sterilize breast pump parts at home, even if you boil them. However, sterilization is not necessary to keep these parts safe and sanitary. You can do that by thoroughly washing away germs and bacteria with liquid dishwashing soap and warm water.

Is breastmilk soap good for your skin?

It has antibacterial properties that can help to prevent acne and other skin infections. The moisturizing properties of breast milk soap make it an excellent choice for people with dry or sensitive skin. It can help to soothe and hydrate the skin, reducing the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles.

What makes breast milk soapy?

If you have soapy or metallic tasting breastmilk, this could be a sign of high lipase. Lipase is an enzyme that naturally occurs in breastmilk, but some women can have an excess of lipase, which can make their stored milk smell/taste off. This can lead to potential rejection of your stored breastmilk by your baby.

What is the best detergent for breast milk?

Breastmilk Stains
Since milk is a protein-based stain, you need to use enzymatic stain removers such as Zout, Biz, or Puracy– available in most supermarkets.

How to make homemade breast milk soap?

Recipe below:

1. Warm 8oz soap base of choice on stove or microwave.
2. When melted, stir 8oz room temperature breast milk into the melted soap.
3. Optional – add essential oils (check for safety)
4. Pour into molds using ice cube trays or other molding tray.
5. Refrigerate for a couple of hours, until hardened.

What soap base is best for breast milk soap?

The best soap base for breast milk soap is free of dyes, and fragrances. This is the soap base I chose. The main disadvantage to the melt and pour method, is that your soap has a shorter shelf life.

How long does homemade breastmilk soap last?

There are two main ways to make this specialty soap: the quick melt-and-pour method, which yields soap that only lasts a matter of weeks, and the longer cold process option, which produces long-lasting soap that’s good for 1-2 years.

Can you add vanilla to breast milk?

But if your baby happens to be one of the picky ones who rejects the milk outright? You can start by masking the taste by adding a few drops of alcohol-free vanilla extract to the milk, or mixing the thawed milk with freshly pumped milk.

Is it safe to make breastmilk soap?

Overall, breast milk soap is a natural and beneficial alternative to traditional soap. It offers many benefits for sensitive skin and contains many skin-loving components of breast milk. If you are looking for a natural and organic soap that is gentle on your skin, breast milk soap may be a great option for you.

Can you legally sell breast milk soap?

Well, it is not illegal to make and sell breastmilk soap. It’s merely unregulated. But then again so is all soap in the United States. So, why would I make breastmilk soap?