Scottish mother cures eczema using breast milk soap

A mother cured her stress-induced eczema with the help of soap she made using her own breast milk – but admits her husband found the concept ‘disgusting’.

Now Kimberly Gladman, 31, who is originally from Ayr in Scotland, has pledged never to return to shop-bought soap, after her unlikely solution cleared up the rash from her arms and thighs where steroid creams and traditional remedies had failed.

The mother-of-three, now based in Australia, has set up a company that turns other mothers’ spare breast milk into soap, and says she’s proof that ‘breast really is best’.

Scottish mum Kimberly Gladman, 31, seen with her mother Linda, has now set up a company that turns women’s spare breast milk into soap 

Kimberly says her breast milk soap cured her rash when more traditional remedies failed

‘I’d tried all sorts to get rid of it, but nothing had helped,’ Kimberly says of the rash on her arms and legs.

‘The breakout wouldn’t respond to any prescription medication.

‘Then my breast milk helped immediately. I was amazed.’

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Kimberly, a masters student at James Cooke University in Queensland, had started making her own soaps to help make bath time more fun for her oldest daughter, now four.

The mother popped some spare, frozen breast milk into a recipe earlier this year, then says she put it away in the kitchen cupboard and forgot about it – until she developed eczema on her legs, thighs and arms after an extended period of stress.

Neither natural remedies nor a steroid cream prescribed by a doctor got rid of the rash, prompting a desperate Kimberly, who also has a three-year-old and a one-year-old, to reach for her own concoction. 

Kimberly mixes up batches of soap in her kitchen (left), and says the breast milk soap cured her rash, seen right both before and after using her remedy

‘I tried everything… and the only thing that helped was the breast milk soap,’ says Kimberly, who left the UK for Australia seven years ago. 

‘The only reason I stopped using it was I stopped breast feeding my son.’  

Kimberly was so impressed with how well it worked she set up a company for other mums which offers to turn their spare breast milk into soap. 

Kimberly says her 48-year-old husband found the concept of breast milk soap ‘disgusting’

The mother used a simple pour-in method to make her first soaps, and eventually moved onto making soap in a more traditional – and complex – way.  

‘This involves mixing water and caustic soda and boiling it,’ she says.

‘You have to be careful as caustic soda is dangerous. It involves wearing gloves. 

It was in February this year that she came up with the breast milk version.

‘It was just an idea,’ she says. 

The masters student, seen left and right in photos with Snapchat filters, says she was ‘amazed’ by how effective the breast milk soap was at clearing up her rash 

The mother of three has set up a company selling her handmade novelty soaps 

She was inspired to go into business after her friends tried the soaps she created at home 

‘But it worked really well and after the soap set I realised I had a good product that other people might like.’   

Her doctor prescribed a steroid cream, which had no impact, and she also tried a natural lotion from a healthcare store.

This worked for a few days, but the rash soon returned, leaving her blotchy and in pain.

That’s when she decided to scrub herself with the breast milk soap – and was astounded by how well it worked.

Word of Kimberly’s breast milk soap spread among her friends and know she sells it online 

Kimberly moved from the UK to Australia seven years ago, and is now a student in Queensland

Kimberly, who studied at Glasgow Caledonian University before moving to Australia, following a stint backpacking and meeting her now 48-year-old husband says:  ‘I told my husband about it, who thought it was disgusting.

‘So he’ll drink goats’ milk but won’t wash with the breast milk from someone he knows.

‘I don’t mind though. I appreciate not everyone agrees with what I’m doing. I welcome differences of opinion.’

Other friends were more supportive and one, Laura, asked Kimberly to make her some soap.

Her friend was so impressed, she passed it on to other friends to try. 

‘I personally wouldn’t offer around bars of my own breast milk, but she did and people seemed keen,’ Kimberly says.

‘Since then I’ve had other orders.

‘A man in France wanted breast milk soap and other people in Australia are keen too.’