Scottish Mum Cures Long-Term Baby Eczema With Homemade Breast Milk Soap

A Scottish mom became so desperate to cure her baby's long-term eczema that she started washing it with an organic soap she had made with her old breast milk – and it worked.

Joy Evans, 35, attributes the unusual handmade soap to the cleansing of red patches of dry skin that itchy baby's arms, knees, thighs and shoulders.

The little boy suffered from eczema since the age of six months and had to be kept covered so as not to scratch the red patches.

Joy was out of breath when steroid treatments, emollient creams and over-the-counter medications prescribed by the general practitioner failed to cure him for almost a year.

But when the mother of four heard about this strange remedy while browsing online in July, she decided to try her luck because she had "nothing to lose" – and used express breast milk from her freezer.

Joy, a breastfeeding support worker, was shocked by the fact that her son's eczema, now 20 months old, was disappearing after only a month of washing with breast milk soap.

The mother, originally from Edinburgh but now residing in Haltwhistle, Northumberland, said: "I was a little skeptical when I found her, but I hoped it would work.

"I hoped that it would at least disappear or make it less irritating and uncomfortable.

"It was my hope, just to make it more comfortable, but it exceeded all my expectations.

"We had steroid treatments, emollient creams and other over-the-counter products to try to help her eczema.

"But nothing worked, or it would work for a short while, but then the eczema would come back.

"Steroid creams would eliminate redness, but not eliminate it. Other treatments would reduce it a little, but nothing could erase it. Nothing has totally got rid of that.

"We just try to try everything.

"We had to keep his body covered all the time because he would scratch it.

"I was looking for ideas and tips on the Internet. So when we came across this one, I thought, why not?

"I had an old expressed breast milk that was too old for him to still drink in the freezer and I decided to try the experiment.

"In a month, Finlay's eczema had completely cleared.

"One day, in a baby group, he had been reduced to bed because they were playing poorly. I just watched it and thought: "everything is gone". I was amazed.

"We stopped using medicated creams and stopped using over-the-counter items. The only thing we used was the soap that I had made.

"For him, it's the most successful thing we've found in treating his eczema. We did not try anything else. "

Joy already knew the benefits of breastfeeding, but never thought it would be as good for her baby boy's skin condition.

The soap, which she says has the same "squidgy" consistency as a "chic" oil-based soap, was made by mixing an organic soap base with old breast milk.

She was so impressed by the results that she now plans to keep a handy supply to treat all the other skin conditions that Finlay can develop as she gets older, like chickenpox.

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Joy said, "Honestly, I never expected it to work so well. I thought it might itch or maybe reduce the redness, but we did not think it would work well.

"It comes out like a normal soap but a little softer. It's like when you buy a very chic soap and they are oil-based, so they are a little quiet.

"They come out like that, which I presume because of the fat in the breast milk, even though I do not know the science behind it.

"We just use that in the bath, no bubbles or anything, just the soap to wash it up and down.

"What's great is that it's a free resource too. When you are breastfeeding, if you express this, it is easy to lose it in the back of the freezer.

"You can only store it so long that it was too old for him to drink, so he would have just gone in the trash otherwise." There was nothing to lose by trying.

"I know it's not for everyone. Many people with eczema will say "this cream worked for me but that one did not do it", while the same cream will not work for others and the other for others.

"I think the skin is very personalized and it's about finding the right thing for you. But for us, it worked. This is not expensive. The key ingredient is free, so much the better.

"He's always breastfed at night, so before I give up on breastfeeding, I think I'll probably try to buy milk just to keep doing things like that.

"If it can help her eczema, as a mom, I'm sitting and I think" if he has chickenpox, will that help? "

"It could help a lot of skin problems that he might encounter later in life. For the sake of taking a few bags of frozen milk in the back corner of the freezer, it's worth it.

"I'm just wondering if it will relieve the itching of chicken pox or if it will help them heal better. I do not know if yes, but I will definitely try. "