Expressed milk tastes vile

[JADS]

Wail.

Ds2 is 10 weeks and ebf. It's going really well but I have 2 KIT days so want to try and introduce a bottle. Expressed a bottle on Friday with the hope of leaving him with dh to try. Ds hasn't needed it so I decided to try him with it today . Cue sobbing baby who refused completely.

No wonder. It tastes like soap!

I had issues with frozen bm last time but I thought fresh would be Ok.

There's nothing I can do is there? If he has a bottle, it has to be formula

Are you sure it's not the bottle that he's got issues with? I can't see how the taste of milk would change - but lots of ebf babies refuse bottles due to the bottle itself. You could try a different type or teat. Try to get one that it shaped most like your own nipple!

Look partway down this page. I think elapsed time is a big factor. Freshly expressed milk is unlikely to have this problem. Scalding is really meant to help, might be worth a go?

When are your work days?

It sounds like a lipase problem. You can "scald" the milk to stop it going soapy. More info and scalding instructions on this page from Kellymom-scroll down a bit to find it.
kellymom.com/bf/pumpingmoms/milkstorage/lipase-expressedmilk/

Expressed milk that tastes soapy isn't that uncommon as you might think.

This is an extract from an article archived on Kellymom

Full article here: Odor of Human Milk

Under most circumstances, fresh human milk has a mild, slightly sweet scent. Occasionally, human milk that has been frozen and thawed may smell soapy and may be rejected by the baby. In Breastfeeding: A Guide for the Medical Profession, Ruth Lawrence, MD, postulates that for some mothers, milk stored in a self- defrosting freezer may have had changes in its lipid structure due to the freeze-thaw cycles that occur in such freezers.

In a few cases, mothers have reported that their milk began to smell soapy as soon as it cooled, regardless of whether it had been frozen. "When these mothers heated their milk to a scald (not boiling) and then quickly cooled and froze it," writes Lawrence, "the effect was not apparent and their infants accepted the heat treated milk. That process inactivated the lipase (fat-digesting enzyme) and halted the process of fat digestion." However, high heating may lower some nutrient levels, including ascorbic acid (vitamin C). If the milk already smells sour, heating will have no effect on flavor or smell. Milk that smells rancid likely is, and should be discarded.

It's old. You expressed 5 days ago so needs to be frozen if not used in 24 hrs

no it doesn't. It can be stored for up to 8 days in the fridge

NHS advice is that ebm can be kept in fridge up to 5 days
www.nhs.uk/conditions/pregnancy-and-baby/pages/expressing-storing-breast-milk.aspx
Sorry, still working out how to do links in the app.

kellymom.com/bf/pumpingmoms/milkstorage/milkstorage/

It will be the lipase thing. Nothing to do with time of storage. 5 days is fine.

Work days not until March so have some time for experimenting.

Thanks for the link cockney. With ds1, he had a lot of expressed milk that was less than 24 hours old so maybe it wasn't as bad. Honestly I can still taste the soapyness at the back of my throat - vile. Smells ok. Will try scalding the next lot.

I have a couple of different bottles to try. I also need to get dh to give it a go rather than me.

It's lipase. My milk was just the same and lasted two, three max, in the vilest part of the fridge. I discovered through trial and error that it would last a month in the freezer too. It's super annoying, especially if you need to build a stock, but I could never be bothered with scalding.

If your fridge is between 5C and 10C, milk can be kept for 3 days. If your fridge is 0C to 4C, milk can be kept for 5 or 8 days (different organisations give different recommendations).

I thought 5 days might be pushing it a bit. Was hoping that he would have it over the weekend but he spent the entire 3 hours with dh asleep!

Thanks all

I had this too - expressed a load and it was like drinking out of a hand wash dispenser.

mouthful that's exactly it!

Have expressed another 100ml today and scalded it. I am going to get dh to try a different bottle (mam) at the weekend.

Will let you know how it goes x

I don't know if anyone does this but for those who use a dishwasher ... I found Lidl yeah I know I'm cheap own brand tabs left a soapy taste on teats. Thought my milk suddenly needed scalding when it didn't before! Then sniffed the bottle/teat (which had been steam sterilised after) and could taste it on knives and forks.

Hope scalding works for you OP!

I had this problem! And I didn't discover it until after I'd gone out for the day leaving DH w/ expressed milk. Cue angry baby and stressed DH.

The scalding thing worked fine for me. I expressed some milk and left it in the fridge, tasting it every half-day to see how long I could keep it fresh before it went off (for me, about 18 hrs). So, that luckily meant I could express at work and transport it home (in cool bag) and then scald it before sticking it in the freezer (I'd stick it straight in freezer from the pan, using those special bm freezer bags). If I expressed at home then I'd scald straight away and freeze (unless it was going to be used in the next 12-18 hrs, in which case I left in fridge).

The scalding isn't that much of a faff because it takes only seconds. And can't have been that much hassle because I did it for about three months (until DD turned 1, when I joyfully stuck my pump at the back of the wardrobe).

Wow that worked brilliantly Ds managed about 40 ml of expressed milk from a mam bottle and no soapyness.

Next step scald and freeze

City my milk only stays 'nice' in the fridge for 48 hr or frozen for a month.

I didn't realise until reading MN threads there are 'degrees' of this so it's not just scald or don't.

I'm so lazy I can't be bothered to scald: I can usually express a couple of feeds within 48hr of a short trip out and just date/use up frozen milk carefully. When I'm back at work DD will be nigh on a year so thankfully don't need to stockpile enough to make scalding necessary.

Oh, so glad to hear that's worked better for you!