Ever wondered what to do with leftover breast milk after your little one is full at a feeding session, don’t worry we’ve got you covered.
Breast milk is filled with nutrients and constituents, an effective immune booster, so it is normal for one to be skeptical about dumping or wasting leftover breast milk.
Ride with me through this article, you will discover what to do with leftover breast milk after your baby has been satisfied instead of wasting or discarding it.
Reasons You May Have Leftover Breast Milk
- Your child didn’t finish a bottle.
- Your child developed an intolerance to the food you consume.
- Your body produces excessively high lipase in your breast milk which makes your frozen breast milk have a sour smell and taste (although this doesn’t happen often it’s treatable)
- Your child weaned and you still have milk left in the freezer.
- You mistakenly thawed too much milk and you won’t use it all.
Why Look For Alternatives?
Pumping breast milk is not an easy one, it takes a lot to pump and store breast milk, and discarding the leftovers because your baby is satisfied makes us look for other ways to harness the richness of your milk into other useful substances or needs.
When milk is thawed too much, and your baby is satisfied, you may be left with loads of leftovers, you may be concerned with the level of milk that will be wasted.
According to CDC, they recommend discarding leftover breast milk from a bottle that your baby has been fed with it. This is because there could be chances of contamination of the breast milk by bacteria resident in your baby’s mouth during breastfeeding.
Instead of discarding the leftover breast milk as recommended by medical experts, you could harness the richness of the breast milk and turn it into something more beneficial than wastage.
What To Do With Left Over Breast Milk
Having convinced yourself of the necessity of converting your baby’s leftover breast milk into something valuable, your next question becomes, what to do with leftover breast milk in other to utilize it effectively.
Don’t worry, there are lots of things you can do with the leftover breast milk, and they include
1. Baby Bath
One of the properties of breast milk that can be harnessed while thinking of alternative uses of leftover breast milk is its skin softening ability.
Breast milk is a great skin softener and may tend to work magic on your baby’s skin by improving and helping to soften it.
How do you go about it, there is nothing strenuous about this, just stir the leftover breast milk into a bathtub until it is cloudy and then you sit your baby in the milk bath and after some time you wash your baby.
To make it more relaxing you can add essential oils if you want to share in this rich skin-softening exercise, there is nothing that stops you from taking a bath for yourself with your leftover breast milk. The same method used for your baby applies to you if you want to do it for yourself.
2. Soap
Sometimes, there could be hesitance on the use of leftover breast milk for a bath, because of something best known to you; there are other ways of savoring the richness and the beauties of the breast milk.
Breast milk can be used to make homemade soap. If you’re skeptical about how to turn you’re leftover breast milk into a homemade soap.
3. Breast Milk Lotion
You can also use your leftover breast milk to make a beautiful lotion, and the beautiful thing is that the lotion made from breast milk is organic and devoid of synthetic chemicals that can bleach the skin and can last for three months when kept refrigerated.
Remember the world is moving away from the use of synthetic chemicals to the use of organics and it will be awesome to use a rich base of breast milk as lotion.
4. Jewelry
Breast milk can be worn in the form of jewelry, and it is beautiful to have your breast milk as a keepsake.
Breast milk can be utilized and turned into pendants, rings, lockets, or beads and there are special companies that turn breast milk into a pendant but remember that to avoid troubles since breast milk is a biological fluid, follow the shipping rules.
Alternatively, you can do it yourself! MamaMilkFairy has a nice DIY Breast milk Jewelry Kit with very easy-to-follow guidelines on how to turn your breast milk into an oval ring that you can wear for the rest of your life.
5. Fertilize Your Plants
We all know plants get most of their nutrition from the soil. Milk, including both breast milk and cow or goat milk, is enriched with beneficial minerals and you add some to soil it may help your plants grow better.
Read Also: How To Know If Your Breast Milk Is Expired
What To Do With Leftover Thawed Breast Milk?
Breast milk is filled with amazing properties that can be used as therapeutic, it is a natural healer though not scientifically proven but has long been used as therapeutic material for many health challenges for babies and adults.
1. Use it for Minor Cuts and Bruises
Breast milk can be used for the treatment of bruises and minor cuts, and the reason why it is effective is that it contains the antibody Immunoglobulin A (IgA) protects wounds from the invasive activity of germs and helps speed up healing.
To do this properly, simply apply breast milk with a cotton pad and allow it dry. Alternatively, you can also freeze leftover breast milk in cubes to treat minor cuts and bruises.
This process helps reduce inflammation and swelling along with other antiseptic properties of breast milk.
2. Diaper Rash
According to a study, breast milk works effectively just as hydrocortisone works on babies with diaper rash. You can just pat some breast milk on your baby’s irritated bum and then let it dry before you put their diaper back on.
Remember to be mindful about persistence rash. If diaper rash refuses to go away then you might have yeast rash.
Applying breast milk on your baby’s yeast rash will not clear it up since yeast thrives on sugar from the breast milk.
3. Treat Ear Infection
Naturally, an ear infection is very common during the early years of someone’s life. Due to the increase in antibiotic-resistance bacteria, a lot of scientists are using wait and see approach.
Although there are no proven scientific reports, certain moms believe that applying few drops of breast milk into a baby’s ear every few hours can help reduce the pain caused by ear infections. However, it is best advised to your pediatrician first.
4. Eczema
This is a very common condition during early childhood. About 50% of all infants develop eczema in their first couple of months.
Breast milk has topical anti-inflammatory properties and this property has been harnessed in the treatment of eczema compared with hydrocortisone according to this study.
5. Treatment of Conjunctivitis
In ancient Egyptian and Roman cultures, breast milk is used for the treatment of infectious conjunctivitis.
A scientific study conducted by Ghaemi et al. shows the beneficial preventive effects of colostrum against neonatal conjunctivitis on 89 breastfeeding neonates.
6. Cradle Cap
Pour some breast milk into water and make a cloudy solution and mist over your baby’s affected areas on their head.
7. Insect Bites and Sunburns
Make a cloudy solution by applying some breast milk to water. Then make a cloudy mist over your bites or sunburns for soothing relief.
8. Sore Nipples
Sore nipples are quite common, especially in the first few days of breastfeeding. Most lactation consultants recommend breast milk for women with sore or cracked nipples because of the soothing relief it provides.
Just express a few drops of breast milk directly onto the nipple, massage gently, and let it dry to reap the benefits.
Alternatively, you can also use these on your sore nipple they’re quite affordable, and can be worn a lot of time (perfect when you’re trying to get a good latch), and also provide soothing relief.
9. Make yogurt
Another innovative use for breast milk is used for the production of yogurt. Yogurt is a good source of probiotics for babies and of course, it tastes great too.
Just sterilize your milk by boiling it on the stovetop until bubbles start to form. Allow it to cool down a bit and add 1-2 tablespoons on live yogurt culture, then mix and store for 6-8 hours in a warm place.
10. Teenage Acne
Leftover breast milk can be used in the treatment of acne, all you need to do is clean your baby’s face with breast milk twice a day or apply it as a face mask and allow let it dry.
Read Also: Why Your Thawed Breast Milk Looks Grainy
What To Do With Frozen Leftover Breast Milk?
1. Use it with Solid food
I could recall when my daughter was transitioned into solid food at 6 months. I mixed frozen breast milk to make food for her.
It was very easy for my baby to transition to solids as she was familiar with the texture and taste of breast milk.
2. Donate it
You can also donate your milk, though some breast milk banks have a very strict rule for accepting breast milk to ensure its safety for human consumption.
Alternatively, you donate your breast milk to a mother in need privately through community-based milk-sharing organizations.
Also, Facebook is a great place to source resources for private donations. Just make sure that your milk is safe to donate.
Read Also: What To Do With An Old Breast Pump
What To Do With Leftover Fresh Breast Milk?
1. Make Momsicles
This can be done by freezing your breast milk into Popsicle molds. Momsicles can last for 6 months in the freezer.
They’re a great remedy that helps with your baby’s teething gum. If your little one happens to be biting at the beginning of a breastfeeding session, offer him a momsicle to chew on before nursing.
Alternatively, you can also turn them into a frozen treat for your child by adding sweet fruits of your choice for hot days.
2. Make a Chapstick
To do this properly, simply wash, clean, and sterilize your empty chapstick container, then fill it with your fresh breast milk and allow it to freeze.
Remove it out of the freezer when your babies have cracked lips. This will last you for 6 months in the freezer.
3. Donate it
This is another great option if you have an oversupply. Your breast milk must be pasteurized for it to be accepted by milk banks and given to sick infants whose mothers can’t produce breast milk.
You can contact any nearest breast milk bank to see if your milk is acceptable for donation or you can donate them to a mother in need privately through community-based milk sharing organizations. Just make sure that your milk is qualified for donations.
Related Posts:
- How To Properly Pump and Store Breast Milk
- What Happens If Baby Drinks Spoiled Breast Milk
- Baby won’t Drink Pumped Milk (7 Helpful Tips)
- How To Travel With Breast Milk
Conclusion
We hope this article has given an indebt discussion to answer the question, what to do with leftover breast milk. Therefore, when next you have leftover milk or formula, instead of discarding it, why don’t you try and explore it for other useful purposes or harness and turn it into something more beneficial for you and your baby.