Does freezing change the taste of breastmilk?

[JimmyMcNulty]

Ds2 (12 weeks) will just about take a bottle now, but I have noticed on the couple of occasions it's been previously frozen ebm that he has refused to take it completely and had the screaming abdabs. I have tasted it but tbh even freshly expressed bm tastes foul to me and I can't tell the difference. Have checked our freezer is working properly.

[pooter]

Well i have no idea if this is relevant to you, but i know that i couldnt get DS to take expressed milk that had been left in the fridge for a couple of hours, or frozen, and when i tasted it, it was all soapy and yuckky. It turns out that some people have lots of lactase in their milk - the enzyme that breaks down the milk protein lactose - so the milk is being digested before the baby has it - and tastes weird. If you scald the milk first in a pan it denatures the lactase and you can store it safely. Unfortunately this will also denature the antibodies too.

It may not even be this, but worth baring in mind. Perhaps do an experiment and scald one lot of expressed milk and see if he takes it?

[JimmyMcNulty]

Thanks pooter, I hadn't heard of that before. I will try it! When you say scald the milk, is that bringing it just to simmering point then letting it cool down?

[thisisyesterday]

yep, what pooter said. my milk did that, although I didn't realise for aaaaaaaages, because ds1 just drank it all up anyway!

but yes, scalding helps.
put it in a small pan and heat until you just start to see tiny bubbles round the edge and then remove from the heat and pour into whatever you're using to store it