EBM going off?

[AuldAlliance]

DS is nearly 5mths and I've been expressing for him when he's at the CM's (he began going there 2 weeks ago).

I have been basing fridge/freezer storage times on what is laid out on the kellymomwebsite, though it seems v long.

On Monday the CM told me he had seemed to turn his nose up at one of the 2 bottles, as if it tasted bad, but ended up taking it. He cried a lot in the pushchair and he was very sick a wee while after that. I wonder if it was the EBM, as I'd expressed it late on Friday night and he'd had it on Mon around 9am. Had it been too long in the fridge?

Then today the same sort of thing happened with a bottle of frozen EBM dated 20th Aug, though he wasn't sick, just seemed to dislike the taste of the milk, finally took it and then cried a lot. The CM said the milk when defrosted looked very thin and pale, not as yellow and creamy as it usually does.

Could it be that my milk has a short shelf life? Is there any other explanation? I'm happy to store the milk for only 24h in the fridge, but if I can't freeze some to have a stock for the days when I can only express once at work, then I may have to give formula, and I'd really rather not...

[UndomesticatedGoddess]

Have you tasted your milk?

I couldn't work out why my DS wouldn't drink my EBM so tried it myself. It tasted of soap and I threw up! Apparently it's a lipase thing (check it out on kellymom).

AFAIK you can store EBM up to 8 days in the bak of the fridge so it should have been OK. Sometimes the longer it's stored then the longer the lipase has to break down the fats.

If you're going to try it I would recommend a small sip!

[AuldAlliance]

Will try some later, Goddess.

What I don't get is that he drinks all the other bottles, there have just been these two dud ones.

Off to look at lipase things on kellymom. Thanks!

[oopsacoconut]

For some reason my milk goes off the minute we defrost it. DD would drink it fresh but the minute it was frozen it tasted fishy.

[Songbird]

And mine tasted of sick! What lucky babies we had/have!

[MrsBadger]

yy lipase - taste it

had the same problem with mine for dd - even frozen it only kept for about 6 weeks.

I just used to fridge overnight and use next day - if I oculd only pump once then that was all dd got (split into 3 equal-size feeds). But by that time she was 8m and eating food as well... if you need more then I'd consider scalding it as the Kellymom article suggests, though it is a PITA.

[AuldAlliance]

Scalding it isn't only a PITA, I don't really see how I can do it at work. Will try freezing for short periods (he's had one defrosted bottle and it was fine apparently).

[AuldAlliance]

Right, I've conducted an experiment.

Tasted the milk when I expressed it last night. It tasted of milk, perfectly nice. It also tasted OK this morning. The batch I'd expressed yesterday during the day tasted utterly foul, very sour and disgusting. Am going to experiment a bit more to see what's going on.

If it's going off in a matter of hours, I'm not going to be able to express enough for DS2 to have while I'm working. What I still don't understand is the randomness: why some bottles and not others?

[MrsBadger]

I wonder if one can scald in the microwave, eg in the tearoom at work?

a quick google (ebm scald lipase microwave) throws up lots of posts suggesting you can - definitely worth a bash

[Guimauve]

I suppose that although the lipase content may be the same through the day, some bottles will have more fat than others depending on how full your breasts were when you pumped. Logically, higher fat content = more fat to be broken down = more sour breakdown products. Perhaps that is why it is happening with some bottles, not all.

[AuldAlliance]

I will look into that, MrsBadger, though TBH the hygiene at work is scary. The fridge & microwave are in the staff loos and are filthy, there is only cold water in the taps.
I'm already having doubts about expressing there. Could scald in the microwave at home, though, to make sure milk expressed at home doesn't go off.
Just off to google. Thanks for the idea.

Is there any possibility it could be due to poor sterilisation? As he's nearly 5mths I don't sterilise everything each time. I wash in scaldingly hot water and then boil everything up once a week. Maybe I need a steriliser?

[AuldAlliance]

That could be right, Gui, though the CM said the frozen bottle which was bad looked really light in colour and not very fatty.

[Guimauve]

But perhaps the appearance changes once the fat has been broken down?


Is there a biochemist in the house?

[MrsBadger]

nah - I never sterilised anything when expressing for DD - dishwasher or hot handwash + air dry should be fine

is too early in the morning for biochemistry [yawn] but I don't think you can correlate appearance to fat content to lipase activity

[BoffinMum]

Auld, tbh he is probably turning his nose up at bottles because they are cold and hard and not all lovely and squidgy like his mummy.

Milk from August will look thin because it is probably hot weather milk designed to quench thirst more than fatten up.

I have a fridge magnet from Breastfeeding Awareness Week and the official guidance is 5 days in the main body of the fridge (assuming you get it in there straight away and the fridge is 0-4 degrees C). I have tested this theory on DS3 and he has not been poisoned.

I have posted some more personal experience of expressing tips on postnatal thread.

[AuldAlliance]

hmm, good point re August milk.

You could be right about why he's rejecting the bottle, but it's the random element that troubles me. And the milk I tried this morning was, objectively, unutterably foul. It keeps returning on me (sorry, TMI) and I can safely say that anyone in their right minds would reject it. I can't think how he finally found the courage to drink it.

I have replied on postnatal thread...

[bronze]

How are you defrosting it? I'm not sure about the scalding thing. I found that when I defrosted in the microwave and overdid it then let it cool it tasted vile but when defrosted gently and maybe warmed slightly it was ffine

[AuldAlliance]

defrosting in fridge; no microwave.
(1-handed typing!)