Breast Milk Homeopathy

Breast milk is just a great thing to have around for those daily bumps or mild illnesses. Got an ailment? Treat it with breast milk!

Here is a list of other uses for breast milk (other than feeding you child of course!)

Pink eye, eye redness/soreness/puffiness – apply a few drops in the affect eye(s)
Diarrhea – breastfeeding your child helps prevent and treat diarrhea
Diaper rash – apply and allow to air dry
Cold sore – apply and allow to air dry
Warts – apply and allow to air dry
Minor cuts, burns and scrapes – apply, allow to air dry then bandage as needed 
Stuffy / runny nose – squirt a few drops in each nostril
Sore / cracked nipples – apply and air dry
Ear infections – squirt a few drops in affected ear
Insect bites – apply and the itching will go away
Rashes, eczema – wash with clean water, apply milk and let air dry
Chicken pox – apply to sores and will help with itching
Sore throat – drinking breast milk will help fight the infection
Plugged tear ducts – squirt a few drops in the corner of the eye (by the nose) a few times a day
Contact lenses – dry lenses or run out of solution? Substitute breast milk, it’s sterile
Leg ulcers – apply a few drops of breast milk
Cancer – see my article on this topic for more information
Breast Cancer – breastfeeding can help prevent breast cancer in the mother
Osteoporosis – breastfeeding may help prevent osteoporosis in the mother
Diabetes, heart disease, childhood cancers, ear infections, obesity – breastfeeding your child can help prevent these diseases

Recently my daughter had a bad diaper rash due to those lovely diapers that can come with teething. I applied breast milk and allowed it to air dry and the next day there was HUGE improvement. I also had squirted some in her nose when she had a cold – helped break up her congestion. One application to my husband’s cold sore knocked it out. It’s helped my eczema. I burned my hand over the holidays and breastmilk took the sting right out of it. It’s those wonderful antibodies in human milk that help fight these infections and ailments.

It’s a little miracle drug! 🙂 We did not believe it until we saw the affects ourselves. Just more reasons why you should breasfeed as long as possible. My daughter is 21 months and going strong!

Resource article
Mothering Article: “Walking Medicine Chest”

45 thoughts on “Breast Milk Cures

  1. I applaud your efforts in your research. However, I may caution you to ease up on the whole breastfeeding thing. If it works for you, that is great. But there are lots of people who may take offense. Breastfeeding is a choice. And for those women who may not be able to breastfeed, choose not to, etc, don’t need to feel as though they aren’t as good a mother as you because of it.

    My response:
    Thanks for your comments. It is not my intent to make anyone feel guilty. I do feel there is a lack of education and I only care to share my experience and education so when new mother’s are making that choice they are a little more informed on the benefits for mom and baby. Right now I do have a lot of info on breastfeeding because since having my daughter that is what I have researched the most! 🙂 It is very facinating too! And just because someone breastfeeds does not make them a good mother. Again, no one should take offense. Some mother’s medically can’t and their love is more important than anything a child can receive. All we can do is parents is our best!
    Thanks, Trisha

    1. I believe it is a well established medical fact that breast-feeding is best for mom and baby. So, those who choose not to breastfeed or can’t breastfeed should be prepared to NOT take offense at a known fact. Part of being a grown up is owning the choices you make. That’s just life. You can’t get your feelings hurt just because someone writes about how great breastfeeding is.

  2. My mother-in-law was diagnosed with inflammatory breast cancer last spring–a very rare and lethal form of breast cancer–and I happened to have read about Swanborg’s laboratory work on breastmilk and cancer. Lucky for me, I was breastfeeding my 6-month-old son, so I started my mother-in-law on breastmilk smoothies, daily for the initial four months of her treatment. She drank 6 ounces a day (sometimes less, if I didn’t have a big donation) and as of her last visit at the Mayo Clinic she is cancer free. Her oncologist, who was very supportive of her alternative therapy–in addition to using chemo–is literally flabbergasted at her recovery. I plan to continue breasfeeding my son until my sister-in-law gets pregnant and can take over with the “donations.”. I really think we’ll see some evidence to support this intial lab work and all the anecdotal stories…Anyway, just wanted to add my experience!

    1. WOW just WOW that is truly amazing!!! Im loving all of the reasons to breast feed. Its amazing howmuch we can help ourseleves with out doctor intervention. WONDERFUL;)

  3. Laura, thank you for sharing your story. That’s amazing!! I agree that we will see more and more people turning to breastmilk for many purposes. So many stories like yours and the new research finding stem cells in breastmilk. The more I find out about breastmilk, I am more and more amazed by its power.

    Thanks again for sharing your story. Good luck to your family and I pray your mother in law remains cancer-free!

    Trisha

  4. Love the article. Ignore those who worry about “offense.” Sheesh. They don’t have to come to your blog. Should people not post about getting well eating lots of raw foods because some people don’t have teeth? Or about the health benefits of exercise because some people choose not to do it?

    And, Laura, you are awesome. I love stories like that.

    Aside from a couple “wet nurse” sessions for some babies who had to rely on donated breastmilk, my own breastfeeding experience has been rather mundane…and mundane is good. My daughter is turning 3 next week and we’ll keep nursing for as long as we both want to. Where ever we both want to.

  5. Thanks for your kind comments Cyndi! 🙂

    I don’t worry about people who take offense, though I do try to be aware since I personally have friends who can’t breastfeed because of medications they are taking for illnesses like MS. I know more and more medications are being approved for breastfeeding, but not sure what medications they are on. I would never want to make anyone feel like they are doing harm to their child because they medically cannot give them breastmilk. And you know as well as I do there are too many people giving breastfeeding advice who are not qualified to do so. Very unfortunate, but I hope some of these articles and comments will help educate expectant mothers that breastmilk and formula are not equal.

    Happy early birthday to your daughter! Thanks again!

    Trisha

  6. My baby and I both started to get conjuntivitis a couple of weeks ago. I applied breastmilk to both our eyes and the next day it was gone. Definitely worked!

  7. mY BROTHER IN LAW HAS STOMACH CANCER. wHERE COULD I FIND BREST MILK.
    pLEASE GIVE ME A SITE
    UMLESH

  8. Umlesh, first, I am very sorry your brother-in-law is going through this.

    There are very few milk banks in the USA. Here is a website that has a link the milk banks in the USA.
    http://www.4women.gov/breastfeeding/index.cfm?page=359
    This site seems to be a bit outdated. I know there are milk banks in these locations in North America: British Columbia, California, Colorado, Delaware, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, North Carolina, Ohio and Texas. You will need a doctor’s prescription to obtain the milk.

    Alternatively, if you have a family member or a friend of the family who is breastfeeding, you could ask if the mother would be willing to donate some of her milk to your brother-in-law.

    I wish your brother in law all the best. He’s lucky to have you helping research treatments for him.

    Best of luck,

    Trisha

  9. I have heard of women relactating and taking herbs to be able to breastfeed adopted babies your brother in laws wife or any other willing woman in your family could try taking mothers milk tea, fenugreek, or blessed thistle I know these are supposed to help increase milk supply I dont think it would hurt to try but I suggest researching it and maybe someone could give it a try

  10. Kiva is right. I know someone who is nursing her adopted son. She tried just using a breastpump at first with little results, then she was prescribed reglan and started producing milk right away! Reglan is only available by prescription. The other options Kiva suggested are available over the counter. It can take quite a while for a woman to lactate without having recently given birth, but it certainly can be done — you just usually need a little boost.

    Trisha

  11. Thank you so much!! I really enjoyed your blog and this was my fav orite by far!!! I knew it was good but not this good!!! You are also a very great woman for the way you handle things, I would not have been that nice. Bravo to you!!! Thanks again mama!

  12. Love the article. I too have done a lot of research since having my daughter. I was not very successful breastfeeding my son and it was directly related to lack of information and support. I made sure not to have that problem the second time around. I breast fed my daughter until she was 21 months old. She self weaned. I had so hoped to nurse her longer but she was ready to stop. I am pleased that she was able to do that transition on her on and was happy about it. I am now pregnant with my 3rd child and I can’t wait to have the same wonderful nursing experience with this baby.

    It is amazing how many things breastmilk is good for. Hopefully as awareness of the benefits grows, there will be more organizations promoting and supporting breastfeeding. I would love to see some commercials about the benefits of breastfeeding and the resources available instead of 500 different formula commercials all the time! UGH!

    Ignore the comment about “easing up” on the breastfeeding issue. WHAT? It was an article about breast milk. If someone chooses not to breastfeed then the don’t need to read an article about breastmilk, right? I don’t see how anyone could be offended. They make a choice to open it and read it. Not to mention that you were not pushy or forceful AT ALL about your beliefs. I thought the article was very well written!

  13. I came across your blog and you seem very knowledgeable about breastfeeding and I thought you may be able to help. Any suggestions on how to prevent thrush while breastfeeding? I have gotten it twice and think it may be related to exercising…I am not sure what else could be cauding it. Any suggestions? I hate to keep taking the RX.

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  14. Hi Kelly, yes thrush can be a pain. I had it to and it seemed like it would never go away! If you are using Nystatin, I would suggest asking your OB or the baby’s pedi for something else. It takes forever and it is not very effective. Other options like gentian violet and Miconazole (both OTC). And its very important to treat you and the baby at the same time and continue treatment for 2 weeks after symptoms disapear.

    Kellymom.com has a great resource page here:
    http://www.kellymom.com/bf/concerns/thrush/thrush-resources.html

    Ways I prevented it are:
    1. Be sure to remove your bra/shirt as soon as it is wet (can be hard to do while exercising, so remove it immedietely when you are through). This is any moisture that is in contact with your breast and that general area — including moist nursing pads. Yeast likes dark, damp places.
    2. Expose your breast to a few minutes of sunlight daily. Through a window is fine, I usually blow dry my hair topless and let the sunshine flow in the window. Sunlight kills yeast.
    3. I used a vinegar wash on my breasts after pumping while I had yeast in addition to the medication. Vinegar is acidic and kills yeast.
    4. Add good bacteria to your daily diet. Take a probiotic, eat yogurt — the good bacteria will help kill the bad yeast.
    5. Wash your bras in hot water (I even soaked mine in vinegar a few times while treating thrush).
    6. If you pump, the baby takes any bottles, pacifiers or chews on toys, sterilize those often. Do this after each use while being treated.
    7. I tried to avoid foods that were “yeasty” if that’s a word!

    I hope this helped. Please check back anytime!

    Trisha

  15. Thanks that helps. I took Diflucan (I asked my OB and the baby’s Dr. and they said it was the best) and it went right away, but it came back two weeks later…frustrating. I think that giving them a little air might help right after working out. Thanks!

  16. Kelley, one more thing I thought of. Do you use antibacterial products? If so, stop using them. It does kill the bad bacteria, but it also kills the good bacteria that our bodies need to fight the bad bacteria. Using antibacterial products are a little invitation for yeast. I stopped using even hand soap with antibacterial stuff and have not had a problem with thrush past that one time. I am confident it helped keep it from coming back.

  17. Just another one for you. I had something weird going on with my lips a little while ago. It has happened a few times before and I thought it was an allergic reaction to aloe vera, but I can’t figure out where it came from. I know I am allergic so I avoid aloe like the plague! It might have been a viral infection or something too. I just don’t know. Anyway, while my lips were so painful, dry, cracked, bleeding, etc., I used to use neosporin and it would take about two weeks to be fully cleared up. This time I would just squirt a little BM on my finger and rub it on my lips, it cleared up in about four days! Not sure how you would classify that, but it can help for “unknowns”!

  18. I have MS, but refused to take my neurologist’s recommendation to go on medication after my daughter was born. She is 13 months and still nursing! I am fine and I believe breastfeeding has helped me not have a bad relapse postpartum. A study in Canada released last year had made a possible connection with prolactin levels in pregnancy and the calming effect pregnancy has on MS. Well if that is the case, then may be breastfeeding could continue this pregancy effect postpartum.

    I intend to continue to nurse my daughter for as long as she wants. Even my neurologist who was saying there really was not any difference in breastfeeding and bottle feeding has toned down his 1950’s speech that “we were bottle fed and we turned out all right” after I sent him information about the studies suggesting babies who are bottle feed are more likely to develop MS. My brother and I both have MS. So we are not “all right.”

    I understand not everyone who has MS is like me, but there are more women with MS than you think who do fore go the meds in order to breastfeed.

  19. Kitty, thank you for sharing your story! More and more, mothers like you are doing their own research before making the decision to bottle feed because of a condition they have, and like you, they are realizing doctors are misinformed about breasfeeding. Kudos to you for breastfeeding your daughter (and for as long as she wants — my DD is 28 mo and nursing at night and I am 22 weeks pregnant with DS.) I am glad breastfeeding is helping your MS all while benefiting your daughters health as well! I hope you will be an inspiration to other mothers facing this as well!

  20. Hi, I’ve just had my first child, he is six weeks old and loving the breastmilk. I’m a little concerned that sometimes when feeding he pulls away and milk squirts out. Is this normal?? It’s only in the first couple of minutes of him feeding, then it all settles down. Is this an over active let down?

  21. Hi Katie,

    It could be. I had this problem. My at 6 weeks with my DD. She pulled away and was coughing, almost choking when the milk let down, but then she was fine the rest of the feeding. I went to my LC and she said I had an oversupply which let to a forceful letdown. She suggested hand-expressing or pumping until the milk let down and the flow slowed a bit, then to nurse her. That will also ensure your little one is getting the rich hind milk. Some squiting/spraying is normal during let down, but if it is spraying pretty fast and kinda far out, then I would try expressing until you let down and the milk slows. As long as the baby is not pulling away during the entire feeding, I would say an forceful letdown is likely the case. But if he continues during the whole feeding, there could be another issue, like reflux, but from what you described, that does not sound like the case here.

    Hope that helps!! Let me know if you have any other questions!

  22. Hi Trisha,

    Thanks for the all the info.
    My son is 5 and a half months now, and was exclusively breastfed for the first 4 and a half months.
    About 10 days ago, I found that he was hungry pretty soon after a breastfeed. I then began cereals. I continue to breastfeed him at night, and some time during the day.
    I find that my milk supply has gone down in the last week or so. My breasts no longer feel very heavy even when I have not fed him the whole day. I had hoped to breastfeed longer. Any ideas on how I could boost supply? Not with medications, though.

    Thanks,
    Vijaya

  23. The best way to boost your supply is to breastfeed more often. And the very best way is to forgo solids for several days in a row and let hum nurse as much as he wants to. With breastmilk it is supply and demand. The more you nurse, the more your body will make. And on the reverse, the less you nurse, your body will adjust and make less milk, which is why you have seen a decrease since adding cereal.

    At 5 1/2 months, he should still be nursing probably 6-8 times a day. Until he reaches 12 months, breastmilk should be his main source of nutrition. Cereals and other solids until then are just for practice and for fun.

    If you have a breastpump, you can also pump between feedings to boost supply. I always noticed I pumped more at work when I ate oatmeal for breakfast, eating oatmeal is another very common way to boost supply.

    If you wanted to you could also take fenugreek is an herbal supplement that works to boost supply. You would take 3 tablets, 3 times a day until your supply is boosted, then you could slowly wean off them — 2 tablets, 3 times a day, then 1 tablet 3 times a day… And other mother’s drink Mother’s Milk Tea which helps boost supply as well.

    Hope that helps! Good luck!

    trisha

  24. Trish,

    I had that problem when my little one started solids and started only wanting to nurse before nap time, at night, and in the night. I asked my Dr. since I was concerened about him having enough and the Dr. said that as long as he is getting 16 oz. it is okay. I also took MOther’s Milk 3 times a day for several days and upped my calories. I notice a HUGE link between calorie intake and milk supply. I hope this helps. I agree that with pumping as well. Good luck!

  25. This is terrible when someone says “you can’t applaud the effects of breastmilk because it will make some people feel bad”— seriously, we are all adults and we do the best we can with what we are given. Just because someone can’t do it doesn’t mean we ignore the beneficial effects of breastmilk. That would be juvenile.
    Seriously.

  26. My babygirl Candice was born with a single umblical cord defect detected in the 7th mth. She was pre- term by 6 weeks & had serious conditions : respiratory, a hyotonic body, 3 holes in her heart, weak reflexes, abnormal facial features, mottled skin, drooping tongue, a small head, eyes squint, imbalance of body salts, left foot bent & a tilted spinal tail bone. All tests done so far have been normal even a CT brain study scan, She was in the NICU for 20 days, She is perfectly fine with Her holes in her heart shut – ASD, PDA, VSD. Everything ,almost is come to normal,( without medicine) though her milestone were running slow by 6 mths, She is now 23 mths & I’m still breastfeeding her 3 times a day, God has blessed me with good supply! I beleive He is done a great job, & yes BREASTMILK sure has a wonderful way of curing all these ailments! Even her peaditrician insisted that I feed her til 2 & half years! She has other solids too. She is doing fine & walking now ! Praise God!

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  28. I am breastfeeding my ten month old. No problems up until now. I have developed a red, painful marble-sized (or larger) knot on the inner side of my left breast (almost at the chest wall). Everything I find on clogged milk ducts describe something on or near the areola. This is far from the case, I am applying warm compresses but just wonder if anyone has any ideas as to what it is or what I can do. This literally came up in one day but I am also experiencing cold type symptoms and am worried about mastitis because I’ve heard such horror stories. This is my 4th child but I’ve never encountered a problem like this. Any ideas?

    1. If the spot is red, it could be mastitis. Do you have a fever? I’d call your LC, OB or someone at LLL who can better access your symptoms in person or on the phone. If it is mastitis, you will want to get treated right away to keep it from getting worse. I had a plugged duct and it was not near the nipple or areola for me either. I kept massaging it while nursing, hot baths/showers as often as possible, hot compress or heating pad and take lethicin! Take 1 capsule 3-4 times per day. http://kellymom.com/nutrition/vitamins/lecithin.html I continued to take it for a week or so after my duct cleared just to help prevent it from happening again. Lethicin helps thin the milk just enough to help prevent clogs. It’s completely safe for breastfeeding. In fact, some believe it helps boost brain function.

      In either case – do not stop nursing, this will only make the problems worse!! Anyone advising anything else, knows nothing about breastfeeding. In both situations, the problem arises because you are not emptying your breasts. Trust me, I know this is hard to do when your baby is 10 months because he is interested in playing. Try nursing him when he is sleepy and more likely to empty both breasts. Pumping between feedings can help as well. Keep gently massaging the plug as you pump and nurse. But do be careful to not pump too much because you don’t want to up your supply.
      Hope that helps and hope it clears up for you soon!

    2. something along the lines of, "If everyone went to China, who would adopt the children in foster care? And if everyone adopted from foster care, who would adopt the children from Russia?" . Adoption is adoption- it doesn't matter where they are from or if they are older, babies, special needs, or &qcu;ttypiual&qoot;.

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  30. Breast milk contains essential nutrients. It also has a fat called “monocaprin” that has antiviral effects. Probably some people see improvements when they apply it on their cold sores. You can also use dairy milk. Drinking milk helps to stop the replication of the herpes simplex virus. Milk is rich with lysine which replaces arginine, the food for cells to duplicate herpes simplex virus.

    Check out my blog post at http://www.headachewar.com/how-to-get-rid-of-cold-sores-fast/ to learn other remedies to heal cold sores quickly.

  31. Reblogged this on Healthista and commented:
    If you are breastfeeding, it is great know that it can be used as natural remedies for various illnesses. Breast milk is rich with nutrients especially immune boosters.

    1. Draga mea, iti multumesc pentru aprecieri!Sa imi spui daca ti-a placut painica, in caz ca o incerci.Pup cu drag!VN:F [1e2a91_1169]pl..se wait…VN:F [1.9.21_1169](from 0 votes)

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