Expressed Breast Milk...is the baby whisperer right?

[dal21]

Hi - Quick question - I read the baby whisperer today (what was I thinking - mistake!). Anyways, at one point she writes not to express breast milk too far in advance of when you may need it as every few months the consistency of the the breast milk changes and what i express today will not be sufficient for my baby if I choose to use it when he is much older than he is now.

This is the only place I have read this; nowhere else has warned about this and my freezer is cold enough for the breast milk to keep for 12 months.

Is she right? Or is it a complete pile of rubbish?

it certainly changes depending on what your baby needs.... i found when it was really hot the stuff i expressed was a lot more watery than usual. don't know about composition changing gradually over time though.

not sure but i thought you could only freeze it for 3 months.
the consituents of breast milk for a 6 week old and 6 month old will be different tho, as your milk does keep changing to match your baby's needs,not sure how much that matters tho, sorry!

I think breast milk does change over time - I'm sure I've read that when you BF a toddler they get different antibodies to what they got as a new born. Not sure how this works for tandem feeders though?

But even if its true, I'd say your baby will probably still drink it, if he will take a bottle. Mine never really took to a bottle, but woud drink ebm froma cup, and some of it had definately been frozen for several months.

Sorry, not much help!

Mmm, not sure how it could really matter as a one off / occasional feed.

The nutritional content of bm does change as your baby gets older but I don't know all the ins and outs of it, or how much difference it would make for an odd bottle or two.

Kellymom will probably have something about it.

Most of the BW bf advice is absolute rubbish, mind you, so it wouldn't surprise me if this was too.

Well, milk banks feed donated breast milk from established bf mothers to premature babies. If its changing composition was that much of an issue they wouldn't.

If you're just expressing for someone else to do the odd feed it's not likely to be stored for that long anyway surely? Seriously, I wouldn't give this another thought.

(just been on your other BW thread btw - my opinion of this woman is plummeting )

Total and utter rubbish. If you want to know about bf look to kellymom. Tracey Hogg spouted much balderdash about bf.

yes bm changes, it changes but it doesn't change to make it undrinkable from one month to the next unless it goes 'off'. I am sure i have given dd ebm which has been stored for more than 3 months (against the recommended literature) but it didn't just turn to water I am sure she got plenty of nutrients in it.

what changes from day to day, is the antibodies within the milk. If she goes to nursery today and picks up a cold virus, she passes the virus to me at the next feed and my body starts to make antibodies for it within 3 hrs of my exposure to it. I then pass those antibodies on to her at the next feed.

Toddler milk is higher in fats and antibodies than newborn milk (because they have more energy and come in contact with more germs). But i think a toddler will happily down newborn milk and even vice versa.

This is one of the reasons why expressed milk is said to be second best to bm. If the milk was expressed 3 wks ago, she would still get those passed on to her but they are not for any currrent illnesses she may be facing.

i love chipmonkey's precis, btw. i am way too wordy.

thanks everyone - spookthief, this book has caused me issues i can tell you.
thanks for the guidelines everyone - my books had said that in a deep freezer, milk can last for 12 months. . will see what kellymom says as thay seems to be highly recommended.

So what if it is different? It is still better than the formula that BW suggests is of equal value to breastmilk and that never changes according to your babies needs.

BW talks shite when it comes to BF, I don't think she has ever actually done it.

One thing to bear in mind about freezing EBM long term is that it changes taste so that your baby may not want it. I exclusively express for DS and have kept a supply in the freezer for emergencies, eg when I went into hospital for a few days. No problem with that as it was about 3 months old.

But there is an enzyme in EBM that turns the milk 'soapy' tasting after a certain perios (I believe it varies from woman to woman). In my case, after 5 months the milk smells hideously soapy and DS would not drink it.

Unless the LO was drinking EBM full time and the milk was being stored many months ahead, I would not worry about it being different in composition to milk that was being produced at the time. It's certainly preferable to formula.

Checked out kelly mom - and yup; they basically say the composition and the taste may change as the baby grows and requirements change. (arent our boobs just the cleverest things ever?)
However since the ebm is for use on one off times, I am sure it will be fine. There is also a section on tandem feeding for newborn/ toddler - so if the milk is sufficient for both children, there cannot be a problem with using ebm a few months old.

also - ebm can be kept 6-12 months if kept in separate deep freeze where temperatures are much lower. dont intend to store it that long, but just thought I would let you know.