Paediatric

5 Amazing Benefits of Breast Milk Bath: How to Do and FAQs

You must already be knowing how much important breast milk is for Babies. Most of the people know the nutritional benefits of breast milk for the overall development of baby. Today in this article let’s dive into the discussion of how beneficial breast milk baths can be for babies.

What is breast milk bath?

A milk bath does not mean to bath your baby completely with milk. A breast milk bath is something when you add your breast milk into the water with which you bath your baby. 

Related article – What does breast milk taste like?

Milk bath is not something introduced recently to the people. People have been doing this since old ages primarily as healing various skin problems in babies. Now as science has come this further, there are evidence that breast milk bath not only nourishes the skin but also protects the baby from various infections. 

This is true that there are many products related to baby bath in the market. But what can be more natural and beneficial than breast milk itself being used as breast milk bath. Moreover, these many products available in the market not always suit your baby. 

How to give milk bath to your baby?

This is as easy as a normal bath with just addition of breast milk and some benefits to your baby. To understand how breast milk bath is given in an easy way, let’s arrange the steps to perform in a sequence as follows: 

  • Pour lukewarm water in your baby’s bath as just another normal bathing day
  • Now add your breast milk in the water in such a way that it just turns milky or cloudy in colour. 150-300 ml of breast milk should do this
  • Bath your baby for 5-10 minutes. Let the baby get benefits from the breast milk
  • Once the bath is over, take baby out of the bath and make him/her dry gently
  • Use moisturiser and massage the baby’s limbs properly

The scent of your freshly bathed baby will make your nose feel so good. Don’t forget to make a sniff.

How many times a week should milk bath be given to your baby?

What should be the number of times you give your baby a breast milk bath completely depends upon your milk supply. There is no hard and fast rule of how often should milk bathing be done. You should decide it as per your milk supply. Besides this, Saffron has also been known to provide brilliant skin benefits. We suggest you to check these Skin benefits of Saffron.

Let us say you have enough milk supply to milk bath your baby 1 or 2 times a week. You can then ideally give breast milk bath to your baby 1 or 2 times a week. However if your milk supply allows you to make it possible only one or two times a month then you may even go with that without a problem.

What are the benefits of breast milk bath?

One of the studies show that topical application of breast milk has shown impressive results in healing conditions like eczema among the infants. 

Some important benefits of breast milk bath are as follows:

Moisturises your baby skin

One of the major benefits of milk bath is it’s moisturising property. Breast milk consists of various fatty acids including palmitic acid, oleic acid etc. This prevents the baby’s skin from drying. Most of the people also suggest getting a breast milk bath if your baby has a dry skin.

Heals skin conditions like Eczema

Studies have shown impressive results while using topical breast milk in skin conditions like Eczema. Compared to other topical alternatives available in the market, breast milk bathing is considered cheaper and effective in the treatment of eczema. Milk bathing also helps to prevent various other skin conditions and heals your baby’s skin.

Protects against infections

Breast milk consists of fatty acids as well as antibodies essential for protection against infections. There are antibodies that are known to protect the baby against bacteria like Staphylococcus aureus. Use of topical milk as breast milk bathing helps to protect against pathogens and infections.

Can heal small wounds

Some small wounds can be healed using breast milk. The fatty acids present in the breast milk contributes to this. However, people don’t popularly use breast milk bathing for this purpose. But still if applied, it has the properties to heal small wounds.

Use of surplus breast milk

Lactating females with excess milk don’t need to dispose the excess amount of milk. Instead they can use the excess milk as breast milk bathing and provide some additional benefits to the baby. You must also be wondering how long can you keep the breast milk out. To know this you should check this article How long can breast milk stay out?

Conclusion

Breast milk bathing is not a new method introduced to the world. People have been using this method of bathing to heal various skin conditions in infants since a long time. It is a very easy procedure and can show effective results in healing your baby’s skin. Lastly let’s conclude this article and don’t forget to sniff after your baby has taken bath to get a heavenly feeling in your nose.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Can I use old milk for breast milk bath?

Yes old milk can also be used for milk bathing. You needn’t always use fresh milk, keeping in mind that it doesn’t smell bad or isn’t spoiled. Most of the people prefer to use the breast milk within a week for bathing purpose.

Can I store excess milk for bathing in future?

Yes excess milk can be stored and used in future for bathing. You can store the surplus amount of milk in refrigerator for a short duration or a freezer in case you want to store it for longer duration. However, you should try to use it within a week and that too only for bathing purpose. You should not feed this milk to the baby.

WOMS

World of Medical Saviours (WOMS) is a website formed by a group of medicos who are embarking to provide facts, tips and knowledge related to health and lifestyle. This website proves to be a great platform for the medical enthusiast and also for those medicos searching to outgrowth their knowledge about the medical field.

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