How to make saline solution at Home

Homemade Saline Solution

Ingredients

• 1 liter of distilled water
• 9 grams of Sodium Chloride tablets (I purchased these online and each tablet weighs one gram – very easy). Avoid table salt because of the added iodine and anti-caking ingredients.

*You can simply halve or quarter the recipe, you’ll just need something to cut the tablets and a scale that measures grams.

Supplies

• Large stock pot for sterilizing
• Stirring spoon 
• Tongs 
• Quart-size glass jar with lid or a few small glass jars with lids 
• 1-liter measuring container (we have a large one that holds 1 quart or 1 liter)
• Small saucepan

Directions

Wash your hands.

Fill the large stock pot with enough water to cover the stirring spoon, storage jar/bottle(s), lid(s) and measuring container. Bring the water to a boil (I start with everything in the pot to reduce chances of burns) and let it boil for at least 5 minutes to sterilize your supplies. I hold the end of my tongs in the boiling water to sterilize them, too, as I will be using them to remove items from the pot.

Carefully pour out the water (avoiding burning yourself) or just use your tongs to remove everything and place items to dry on a clean towel.

After it’s cooled, Use your measuring container to measure out 1 liter of distilled water. Pour that water into your saucepan and bring it to a boil.

Pour your sodium chloride tablets into the measuring container. Once the distilled water comes to a boil, pour it over the tablets. Stir with your spoon until it dissolves.

Carefully pour the solution into your storage jar and secure the lid. Store the bottle in a clean, dark, cool place to discourage bacterial growth.

Benefits of Saline Solution 

Normal saline (NSS, NS or N/S) is the commonly used phrase for a solution of 0.90% w/v of NaCl, 308 mOsm/L or 9.0 g per liter. Less commonly, this solution is referred to as physiological saline or isotonic saline (because it closely approximates isotonic, that is, physiologically normal, solution); although neither of those names is technically accurate (because normal saline is not exactly like blood serum), they convey the practical effect usually seen: good fluid balance with minimal hypotonicity or hypertonicity. NS is used frequently in intravenous drips (IVs) for patients who cannot take fluids orally and have developed or are in danger of developing dehydration or hypovolemia. NS is also used for the aseptic purpose. NS is typically the first fluid used when hypovolemia is severe enough to threaten the adequacy of blood circulation and has long been believed to be the safest fluid to give quickly in large volumes.

History

Saline was believed to have originated during the Indian Blue cholera pandemic that swept across Europe in 1831. William Brooke O'Shaughnessy, a recent graduate of Edinburgh Medical School, proposed in an article to medical journal The Lancet to inject cholera patients with highly oxygenated salts to treat the "universal stagnation of the venous system and rapid cessation of arterialization of the blood" seen in severely dehydrated cholera patients. He found his treatment harmless in dogs, and his proposal was soon adopted by the physician Thomas Latta in treating cholera patients to beneficial effect. In the following decades, variations and alternatives to Latta's solution were tested and used in treating cholera patients. These solutions contained a range of concentrations of sodium, chloride, potassium, carbonate, phosphate, and hydroxide. The breakthrough in achieving physiological concentrations was accomplished by Sydney Ringer in the early 1880s when he determined the optimal salt concentrations to maintain the contractility of frog heart muscle tissue. Normal saline is considered a descendant of the pre-Ringer solutions, as Ringer's findings were not adopted and widely used until decades later. The term "normal saline" itself appears to have little historical basis, except for studies done in 1882–83 by Dutch physiologist Hartog Jacob Hamburger; these in vitro studies of red cell lysis suggested incorrectly that 0.9% was the concentration of salt in human blood (rather than 0.6%, the true concentration).