What on earth is wrong with my breastmilk

[16more]

When I had my dd 2 years ago I remember expressing milk and putting it in the fridge for the next day. When I got it out it had curdled and stunk and was definitely bad. I put it down to doing something wrong (god knows what) and it put me off trying again. Well I’ve just had another baby, so I thought I’ll try again as I really don’t want to feel so trapped this time. The same bloody thing has happened again though. I don’t understand what’s wrong with it! Feel like there’s something wrong with me. Why could it be going sour? Everything is sterilised, it goes straight in the fridge to be used the next day.

[FTEngineerM]

Have you got pictures of it in the bag? Where are you putting it in the fridge? What are you using to pump and store it?

[Wildlynx]

Probably high lipase, may need to scald it before storage unfortunately. It's quite common. Google it (kellymom website was a good resource when I was breastfeeding)

[nodogz]

It does separate out. Creamy stuff at the top and thin (almost blue iirc) watery stuff at the bottom. It's not as white or creamy as cow milk. It all mixes together when you warm the milk a bit. Suppose it does look at bit chunky after being in the fridge

Not sure about smell though. My sense of smell is very good and I can smell stuff others can't. Maybe you're the same, milk probably takes in the taste of what you've eaten.

Or freeze it straight away? In the bags it warms up really quickly

[Puddlelane123]

This happened to me (although not to the extent of curdling and ‘going off’) - if I expressed milk and didnt give it to my babies immediately (ie within the next twenty minutes or so) it would take on a horrible soapy taste and smell and they wld reject it completely. This was in spite of following all the appropriate guidelines for the storage and preparation of expressed breast milk and was hugely frustrating.

A google and a chat with a lactation consultant later and I learnt that some women have an enzyme (?) in their milk that causes this soap like taste and that it is just one of those things. Very frustrating and I meant that for me at least, I was never able to express milk for my babies to drink at a later time / date whereas I had friends who were able to keep freezers full.

With that said the smell and taste was unmistakenly soapy / detergenty and it at no stage smelled or looked curdled so I wonder if this is caused by a storage issue? Did you put it right at the back of the fridge (ie not in the door)?

[Puddlelane123]

Yes high lipase I believe it was in my case...

[16more]

Ah right I’ve never heard of high lipase I shall have a good google today.
@FTEngineerM I just pumped it straight into the bottle with the Philips pump. I don’t have any pictures

[edin16]

I have this, I only discovered it after I chucked about 20oz away!! DS is such a greedy little thing that the taste doesn't bother him. There's something about boiling the milk which can help. Or mix half with freshly expressed milk

[16more]

I’m so glad it’s not just me! I’m going to try scalding it today

[britnay]

Mine was exactly the same, so we had to quickly move him to formula on the days that I worked.