Is it really THAT Taboo?!

[key west chick]

I think there is still a lot of eww factor for women who breastfeed in general. When I breastfeed DD over 20 years ago, people were like, no, you're really gonna do that? Gross! Breastmilk to me is no different than a cow or goat. Milk is milk. I tried mine, hubby tried it, its milk. Good luck, and BTW, I would have no problem buying breastmilk soap, or cheese for that matter!

 

[gmendoza]

Pass on breast milk. Skip me.

 

[HEChicken]

I don't find it taboo at all but to me it seems like a waste of a great product. I'd rather see it going into my family - not on it.

 

[RoeDylanda]

Breast milk, while an irreplaceable wonder drug for a woman's child, carries some of the same disease transmission risks as blood does. I'm a maternity nurse and we have to label breast milk before it leaves the patient's room or it *must* be discarded, due to the risk of it being given to the wrong baby or even the right baby after it's considered "expired." This is a big risk with the neonatal ICU babies since they stay with us a while. It carries antibodies, which are great, but also viruses. It's got about 1 million active immune cells per teaspoon in mature milk (7 million in colostrum) but there's always a chance that a viral particle can escape. Milk banks have crazy tight biosecurity to prevent this.

If we could engineer a product that protected babies from acute illness, diabetes, asthma, and obesity like breast milk does, it would sell for more than platinum. Unfortunately, the real thing does come with a small but serious disease risk for unrelated folks.

 

[rebelcowboysnb]

Im sure someone somewhere on ebay would pay an outrageous price for that soap.

 

[Orchid]

I say, if you want to make soap out of it for your family, go for it! I ended up throwing away a whole bunch of frozen breastmilk after weaning our second son and it was an awful feeling - all that work and good stuff going down the drain. Soap is a wonderful idea.

 

[Rozzie]

Shudder! Perhaps we could persuade medical facilities to save what they remove when they do liposuction. That could be used to make human soap, too....

After all, why should all that go to waste...

 

[chickengrl]

Quote:
X2 The Ick factor is that it can actually transmit disease. It would be somewhat similiar to "swapping" blood or other bodily fluids. You should be thinking

Now made into a soap, not really understanding that whole process but would think if heated enough it might kill the viruses and bacteria. Maybe.

 

[babylady4]

As long as you are making the soap with lye, there is no reason why you could 'not' sell it. The lye would certainly kill any of the pathogens in the soap.

As far as making it for yourself; go for it! It is really good for baby's skin! Just go easy on the essential oils or skip them altogether!

I wanted to donate milk when I had my first; nature provided me with an overabundance!!!! Alas, no milk banks here!

 

[Orchid]

Quote:
Oh, wow. No comparison there, honestly.