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Infant feeding

Get advice and support with infant feeding from other users here.

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Original poster

Defrosted breastmilk

13 replies

Mammie81 · 14/04/2011 22:58

It smells awful but cant have gone bad (I have milk from 3 days ago in there and that smells too) Seems like the freezing process is whats done it. I read that some womens milk contains an enzyme that makes it stink once defrosted but it hasnt actually gone off. What can I do, we have 3 months worth in the freezer and Im heartbroken it might go to waste :(

OP posts:

naturalbaby · 14/04/2011 23:03

my milk always smelt funny too but i figured that was just how it smelt - i never thought i could have gone off. i don't know how you could tell other than taste it but then you'd have to compare it to fresh milk i suppose. i never read that aobut the enzymes making it smell - have bf 3 babies and am still learning new things about it. i also found out you shouldn't shake it - after shaking all of ds1's expressed milk cause it had separated and looked really wierd. tis funny stuff!

thisisyesterday · 14/04/2011 23:06

yeah sometimes it can go a bit funny, i think it's to do with the lipase... it basically starts to saponify

you can stop it happening by scalding the milk before you freeze it.

Original poster

Mammie81 · 15/04/2011 00:38

Can it be saved now its frozen? Ive worked so hard to get that stock :(

OP posts:

Loopymumsy · 15/04/2011 07:50

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

gloyw · 15/04/2011 09:50

There have been a few threads about this recently - I lost several months worth over one depressing weekend, as I found when I'd defrosted it, it was 'curdy', not just separated, like it does in the fridge. And it stank, and tasted horrible. I went through bag after bag, and it involved tears as I poured it all away....

The oldest stuff was just off - I couldn't drink it, and I wasn't going to feed my Ds something I couldn't drink. The newest stuff (less than a week old) didn't smell like fresh milk when defrosted, it had an almost chemically tang to it, but DS took it okay.

I tried scalding milk before freezing - found it a real pain because you have to stand over it to stop it boiling, and it destroy some of the goodies in BM as well. You have to do it before freezing, it doesn't work afterwards (and I found heating up milk in a pan or bottle warmer after it had been frozen made it smell very off - letting it defrost slowly at room temp or in the fridge overnight was okay.)

In the end, I gave up on the idea of a stash - I made sure anything I had in the freezer never went over a week storage wise, and it seemed to be okay when defrosted. My milk stored well in the fridge, though - could keep a bottle 3 or 4 days at the back and it tasted pretty fresh.

I read a lot of stuff about how it can taste/smell funny but babies still take it fine... I cringe now, but I think because of that, I might have tried to get DS to take a bottle of milk that was basically off. If it just had a little bit of a tang to it that fresh milk didn't have, I would go ahead - but as a rule of thumb, if I tasted it and it tasted vile and made me feel sick, then no, I wouldn't offer it to DS, no matter what the websites say!

I lost confidence in freezing milk - for me, it was a security thing - the idea that I might be stuck in traffic somewhere, and a 2 hour trip stretch to a 4 hour trip, etc etc. I found the idea that there was frozen milk in the freezer for DP to use in an emergency comforting - but the idea that I might have left DP to forcefeed DS a bottle of rancid milk was anything but comforting.

Original poster

Mammie81 · 15/04/2011 11:39

Im gutted. We've decided to use the most recent stuff and see if that works as a few bottles were ok. The older stuff, sniff and see and if so throw it.

After this I would never freeze my milk. Like you say, it keeps better in the fridge, I never had this problem then.

Oh well. [cries]

OP posts:

japhrimel · 15/04/2011 12:35

If your LO will drink it - and it doesn't smell "off" just funny - I wouldn't worry. I'm sure I have too much lipase too as my ebm smells soapy when defrosted and even after a while in the fridge sometimes, but DD doesn't seem to mind it all.

If you're using ebm regularly so wouldn't have an excess building up, just keep it in the fridge, it's far easier and it's better all round.

I still freeze mine most of the time as we only give DD 1 bottle a week usually and I like having a stash. We recently demolished my stash when I was antibiotics that were upsetting DD's tummy so I pumped & dumped and gave her defrosted EBM.

ningthemerciless · 16/04/2011 18:29

Oh I've had this too! I expressed a load, stuck it in the freezer and defrosted it and bleugh - tastes like vom with a chemically tang to it. My LO wouldn't touch it. I think I am also just one of these people who can't freeze BM. It's a shame but I'll find a way around it if needs be.

fruitybread · 16/04/2011 19:45

ning, 'vom with a chemically tang' was exactly what my defrosted Bm tasted like.

I wonder how widespread this problem is. And if you don't sniff or taste your BM, how would you know....

cocoachannel · 18/04/2011 15:08

'Vom with a chemically tang', describes mine after 48 hours (maybe less) at the back of a fridge. Have only just started expressing and have shaken the bottle when I have seen it has separated- maybe that's the problem given what naturalbaby says!?

cobweb1979 · 18/04/2011 15:47

Why shouldn't you shake it, any links? I'm exclusively pumping so this is crucial! I also have a huge stash in the freezer so I really hope this doesn't happen to me!

fruitybread · 18/04/2011 19:26

I found this link - www.bflrc.com/ljs/breastfeeding/shakenot.htm on kellymom.

Not hugely sure I understand it, tbh, but if it's saying that milk straight from the breast is the best form, and that storing it/shaking it (other than in our breasts, presumably!) means it isn't quite as perfect, I can understand that.

I don't think the separation of fatty 'cream' from milk is what causes BM to go off. Not IME, anyway. When this happened in the fridge, it still smelt and tasted fine - when frozen and defrosted, it was 'curdy', like gone off milk. Well, it was gone off milk.

cobweb, if you are worried, I would defrost your oldest batch and check it.

SoozleQ · 19/04/2011 00:56

My frozen breast milk tends to smell and taste a bit funny once defrosted and heated. Given what I've read about lipase and having had this happen to milk that's only been frozen for a few days and therefore definitely not off, I've given milk like this to my DD. She's taken it fine with absolutely no ill effects. Obviously, if it's rancid and separated or curdy, I wouldn't, but if I'm confident that it's not off and it's just because of the freezing process, I will. You might not have to get rid of your stash - it could be fine.

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