How to Make Breastmilk Yogurt

Breastmilk has often been described as the perfect baby food, and it is. No other food provides a 100% complete balance of nutrients, vitamins, minerals, healthy fats, and proteins, specifically designed by Mother Nature to suit your baby's specific nutritional needs.

If you have an exclusively-breastfed baby or just want a solid food that will provide all the nutrition of breastmilk, plus the many benefits of active cultures, breastmilk yogurt might be an ideal food for your child. Breastmilk yogurt is easy to make at home, tastes great, and packs a nutritious punch for babies and toddlers of all ages.

How to make Breastmilk Yogurt:

1. Express about 1 pint of breastmilk using a pump. Some breastfeeding mothers prefer to freeze and thaw the milk before making yogurt from it, but this isn't necessarily important. It is best to get plenty of hindmilk (the thicker, richer milk that is expressed later during a nursing or pumping session) in the yogurt base.

2. Heat the pint of breastmilk in a pot or double-boiler over medium heat, measuring the heat with a candy thermometer or other precise thermometer. Stir the breastmilk frequently to prevent your yogurt base from scorching, and do not allow it to boil.

3. When the breastmilk has cooled to about 110 degrees, quickly empty it into a sterilized jar (a recently-washed canning jar works well). Add about 1 tablespoon of fresh soy or cow's milk yogurt. The active cultures in a previous batch of yogurt will colonize your new yogurt. Next time, you can use this batch as your starter!

4. Place your jar of breastmilk yogurt into a cooler or thermos, and allow the yogurt cultures to incubate for about six hours. You can allow it to incubate longer for tarter yogurt, or for a shorter amount of time for milder-tasting yogurt. Six hours is usually ideal for breastmilk yogurt, but you can experiment to find out what your child prefers.

5. Because of the low fat content of breastmilk, it is likely to be very thin compared to traditional cow's milk yogurts. If you know that your child can eat foods containing cornstarch (usually not until at least six to eight months of age), you can slowly sift small amounts of the starch into your breastmilk yogurt to thicken it. Stir it to evenly distribute your thickener.

6. If your child eats other solids, you can mix her favorite baby foods, cereals, fruits, and even vegetables into the breastmilk yogurt. It is sure to become one of your baby's favorite foods very quickly, so be prepared to make more of this nutritious treat!