I dont have any grudge against breast milk, but at the sametime I felt that it is my duty to impart this simple scientific explanation.

If at all you believe in magical powers of breast milk (which is true to an extent), you better feed your kid with it. This would do more good than anything else. And try not to administer is via nose.

if u want to clear your kids nose you can use a sodium chloride solution. ( you can get sodiun chloride drops, suitable to be applied in the eye, from any pharmacy). This is what is prescribed by many doctors.

I would also ask all mama’s not to trust all they hear or read. Talk to a doctor, listen to his scientific explanation and then see if his arguement makes any sense before indulging in any such experiments.

So far, I have only tried applying a few drops of breastmilk into the kid’s eye when it was irritable and red a few months ago. She recovered the next day, however, I am not sure if it was due of the BM. Well, it didn’t hurt her in any way though.

Did you meant “saline” when you mentioned sodim chloride drops? I have also heard of parents making their own saline drops, but I don’t have the “recipe”. Anyway, if it isn’t a serious case of life threatening running nose, I would try the breastmilk method, or just her recover herself, instead of giving her those nasal drops (not the saline, but those decongestion drops with names I don’t know how to pronounce) prescribed by doctors.

Back to the point, some of those decongestion drops should work good. The sodium chloride drops were prescribed by a doc too. I dont remember the details of it, but can post them after I get back home and check them.

This posting gave me a rude shock though. I’m very pro breastfeeding. In fact, am still nursing my 2 and 1/2 years old daughter. And not just once or twice a day mind you. I’m giving her as and when she wants it, well demands it usually. And I’m utterly convinced of how beneficial breastfeeding is for my baby. However, using breastmilk on runny nose, red eyes, etc. this has to be a joke!

The protein and rich nutrients in breastmilk provides a very good bacterial culture medium. That’s why women with engorged breasts and inability to express milk are susceptible to mastitis and breast abscess. Breastmilk has to be stored in the fridge, preferably as soon as it’s expressed. Breastmilk can turn bad, and very quickly. Hence, you could be doing more harm than good to the existing bacterial or viral infection.

Please, there are some very effective alternatives. For the sake of your child’s wellbeing, please consult your doctor.

However, I still believe firmly that breast milk could be use as a safe alternative treatment. Administering breast milk to pink eyes or as a nose drop has been use for thousands of years, and is still widely practice nowadays, especially in the rural area as a remedy or first aid.

Though breast milk is a good bacterial culture medium, it also contains anti-inflammatory and antimicrobial properties that prevent contamination in the first few hours of expressing them. Lactoferrin, a protein in breast milk, acts as a strong bacteriostatic so that the breast milk remains sterile for hours. There are recommendations to store expressed breast milk at room temperature from 4 to up to 10 hours safely. There are even studies that show that un-refrigerated breast milk stay bacterial free for days. Of course, we wouldn’t want to try that, and only use freshly expressed ones.

Breast milk has been used by mothers to treat infectious conjunctivitis (pink eye). Secretory IgA is an immunoglobulin, present in colostrum and mature human milk. It has been found to inhibit the adherence or bacteria to mucosal surfaces and limits bacterial colonization of the eye. Enzymes naturally present in the milk are good at breaking down the stickiness of mucous.

There is even a study recommending that topical application of breast milk as a preventive measure in neonatal conjunctivitis because of the anti-inflammatory and antimicrobial properties of human milk- Application Of Topical Breast Milk For Prevention Of Neonatal Conjunctivitis.

We have been taught, told, advised by the doctors, nurses and lactation consultants to squirt and apply breast milk to our nipples after breastfeeding or when we have cracked nipples, as moisturisers, or to speed up healing. Yes, they will become a bacterial breeding ground after several hours, but before that happened, they have either dried up or flushed away somewhere. So I guess the risk is minimal, my only concern is its effectiveness.

I would like to focus on the last part of the authors reply (applying breast milk on nipples). Please note that a very very thin film (one thousandth of a millimeter) of a fertile breeding surface is enuff for bacterias to multiply on surfaces (leave alone silver, which is a effective bacteriacide). And it is very much possible that even after drying of BM or for it to get flushed away such a thin film exists. That is why you are always advised, by doctors and nurses, to clean your breasts with warm cloth before feeding your child.
I do believe that at a point of timethe number of mothers breast feeding their kids were dropping and hence most goverments took measures to let the mothers know the benefits of BM. But they seldom thought that it might acquire such a “magical extract” status.

In addition, please dont follow something which has been there for about a thousand years. there are several myths likes this floating all around us. It is, after all, up to the individual to look in to the facts and adopt a safe practice.