Could my ebm be turning sour?

[page33]

I gave birth 7 weeks ago and have been expressing milk for the past few weeks. However, often when we've tried giving ebm to dd, she will refuse - where she'll take the teat initially, then pool milk in her mouth, spit it out, become distressed and finally refuse to take anymore. However, at other times she will take the bottle ok.

Now I'm wondering if my milk is souring unusually quickly. One batch was definitely soured after 36 hours in the fridge as was a thawed frozen batch that dh tried to use last night. When I've tasted freshly expressed milk next to 12 hour (refrigerated) milk, they smell and taste different. Even milk that is a few hours old seems to have a sour taste to it.

I'm being really careful about sterilising equipment, putting expressed milk straight in the fridge etc. Is it possible that for some reason my ebm turns sour much quicker than normal? If so is there anything I can do about it?

[nailpolish]

i always thought you could only keep it in the fridge for 24 hrs. but in the freezer for 6wks.

maybe its not the milk, have you tried a different teat? maybe now shes getting older she is needing a faster teat, or maybe she would prefer a different one.

[SoupDragon]

DS2 wouldn't touch frozen-thawed ebm. Only fresh (and even that rarely).

[lailag]

My EBM also became "disgusting". But REALLY REALLY disgusting, after about 24 hours. DS also refused it....Just by coincidence I tried it and it tasted not just a bit sour but disgusting. Found from La Leche Legue website it could be due to lipase (enzyme) action that makes milk rancid. To prevent this you should "scald " the milk just after expressing.
Sorry to mention the word disgusting 4 timed but just want to make sure that it is the same problem because scalding the milk takes extra time.
BTW ended up chucking a month's supply of frozen EBM...

[poppy101]

You can really only keep ebm in the fridge for up to 24 hours, if you want to keep it longer then freeze it. You could sterlise a freezer ice cube tray and freeze a little of it at a time.
When you defrost, make sure it is in a fridge or in a cool cup of water etc. Then put it straight in the fridge. Also mine did not like cold ebm and had to warm the bottle up slightly in a warm cup of water then the baby would take it. Look at ABM website for further information on using and expressing bm

[morningpaper]

I had the lipase problem too - after about 15 minutes the milk tasted 'soapy'. It was a bugger but everything I did dd rejected it. In the end I just had to feed her myself every time. But some mums have had lunch 'scalding' it first in a saucepan.

[tiktok]

poppy, sorry, this is not correct. Breastmilk keeps in the fridge for several days, and mothers should be advised to do this rather than freeze it after only 24 hours.

The research on this does change, and it's not surprising there is a lot of confusing info around.

The scalding info is good - this is what some mothers end up having to do, but it is a nuisance. The vast majority of mothers don't have this problem, fortunately.

[morningpaper]

Tiktok (sorry to hijack but) if the lipase problem is a problem with one child, is it likely to also be a problem with subsequent children?

[NotQuiteCockney]

It might be worth checking your fridge is working right, too. Fridges should be at 5C or below.

[tiktok]

MP, no idea, sorry

[page33]

Thanks for the scalding tip. I shall try this and see if it makes a difference.

It seems like a fairly minor inconvenience if it means that I can use ebm - the sterilising and expressing is time consuming in any case and scalding the milk won't add much to the total time taken.

Incidently neither the breast counsellor nor the health visitor who I contacted about this problem had ever heard of it, so I presume it is pretty uncommon.

[karaj]

Sorry, haven't had time to read any of the other suggestions, but according to kellymom.com (very scientific website about breastfeeding issues) you can keep ebm in the fridge for over a week. That's much longer than I had assumed, but as it's based on research I take it's correct. Personally I would freeze it if I was going to keep it that long. Check that the temp. of the fridge isn't too low. WHERE you put the milk is very important. I put some ebm in the fridge door once (just to keep it away from our food) and it definitely went a bit dodgy within the first 24 hours. ebm should be well sealed and kept towards the BACK of the fridge. Anywhere near the sides or in the doors just isn't cold enough. Also, I am not sure if others have read an article on the internet about NOT SHAKING ebm. I always used to because the creamier part separates in the fridge. Then I found out that shaking ebm can kill the cells (as there are living cells in bm, unlike formula). So DO NOT SHAKE EBM LADIES & GENTS ! It's very temping as it looks weird when it separates. The best thing to do is simply SWIRL the bottle. That usuallly does it. Also placing the bottle in a bowl of warm water as most babies hate milk straight out of the fridge (NOT BOILING OR TOO HOT as this too will kill the cells) will help to mix it, as the creamier stuff seems to "melt" when put in warm water. Sorry, to go off the plot a bit, but please go to kellymom.com. It has it all in there. Best of luck !

[lailag]

just a "quicky" about EBM and more than 1 child being affected. It was for me. In fact seemed worse with second one ; it went "off" quicker with dd than with ds. (but was working PT rather than FT by then.)