A Scottish mom is making international headlines for the brilliant way she treated her son's eczema. Joy Evans, a breastfeeding peer support worker, says she had tried everything under the son for her little boy, Finlay, who had suffered from the skin condition since he was just 6 months old. From steroid treatments to emollient creams to over-the-counter remedies, nothing worked. But then, she thought to try something she had read about online: homemade soap made from her own breast milk—and it did the trick for her now 20-month-old.
Evans took to Twitter to share her experience, writing, "Last month I made breastmilk soap hoping it’d help baby’s eczema. Wish I had before photos, it’s totally cleared! No steroid cream, moisturisers, expensive products, just switched to this and his skin is completely clear. #breastmilk #homemade #soap #eczema #magicstuff #organic."
According to the U.K. publication Metro, Evans used stale pumped breast milk from her freezer. "I was a bit skeptical when I found it, but I hoped it would work," she said. "I hoped it would at least take the edge off or make him less itchy and uncomfortable. That was my hope, just to make him more comfortable, but it exceeded all my expectations. We just got to the point of wanting to try anything. I had some old expressed breast milk that was too old for him to drink still in the freezer and just decided to give it a go. One day at baby group he had been stripped down to his nappy because they were doing messy play. I just looked at him and thought, 'It's all gone.' I was amazed."
She now plans to keep a supply around to treat her son's eczema and any other skin conditions that may pop up. "It comes out like a normal bar of soap but a little bit softer," she said. "It’s like when you buy a really posh soap and they’re oil-based so they’re a bit squidgy."
Sure, this may not be every family's skin care solution, but how heartening that something so cost-effective and simple could work. Props to Evans for sharing this "magic" trick with the world.
