Freezer has conked out taking ALL my EBM with it - what can I do? Gutted.

[DollyPopsOut]

I am in tears writing this.... I don't know what to do. I am returning to work in 3 1/2 weeks leaving DD2 at nursery. By then she will be 8 months old. I have been stockpiling EBM for weeks so that she can have my milk while I am at work.

I have just come in from the shops and put something in the freezer. The bugger has broken down taking all my EBM with it. I had a whole drawer full ready to use. Now I have none .

What can I do? I expressed this am but got a poxy 2 oz. I am never going to have enough to leave her with. She is only going 2 days a week but all the same I must leave her a few bottles.

Just wanted to moan really. Off now to make DD1's lunch. I have even given her some chocolate so I could have 2 mins to post this .

Thanks for reading this far.

WAIT! It's okay if the milk is still slightly defrosted. You haven't thrown it away, have you? You just came in from the shops, how long was it down??

Check the sites, but it's not until you HEAT the milk to use it that it becomes unusable. If it defrosts a bit, I think you can still use it.

Poor you!

I'm so sorry, this is my worst nightmare.
How much food does she eat during the day? In the 5 days she's not at nurserry, do you think you could express 4 feeds? Might be a nightmare for the 1st week but then your body will adjust. How often does she feed?

You can refreeze it, I'm fairly sure. Don't ditch it! Keep it somewhere cold, borrow a neighbour's freezer, maybe?

So you can refreeze? We're moving soon and I'm very nervous about moving my milk.

check out this thread

be sure to read all of the way down. There are different schools of thought, apparently, but there is also the option of pasteurizing, which I hadn't known about...

To sum up, apparently refreezing is a question of how slushy it still is...

It's a long thread, but I am learning a lot...if breastmilk goes bad, it's really obvious from the look/taste.

I think most sites that say don't refreeze say that on the assumption that a complete thaw/warm has been done to the milk to feed it to DS/DD. That I get. But not refreezing partially unfrozen milk with slushy bits still in? No sense to me.

This post is really good as a summary:
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Info on re-freezing partially and fully thawed EBM

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Any milk that is still partially frozen will likely be ok if you re-freeze it ASAP. Any fully thawed milk will probably also be ok if you re-freeze it ASAP as long as it has been fully thawed for less than 24 hours. Any milk that has been fully thawed for more than 24 hours is questionable. But if it is close you can mark the bags with a permanent marker, re-freeze it and then give it the Kellymom Sniff/Taste test on a bag by bag basis.

I found a MilkShare posting with an opinion on this topic from David S. Newburg, Ph.D., Director, Program in Glycobiology, Pediatric Gastroenterology & Nutrition, Massachusetts General Hospital.

"My opinion is that if they are only partially thawed, there should be very little if any change to the milk upon refreezing, and that it will be fine for consumption."

Additionally, I have some other references that help explain why partially frozen milk should still be ok. The first link is to the Kellymom Guidelines (for healthy full-term babies, there are different guidelines for Preemies). As with most guidelines, it says you shouldn't re-freeze thawed breastmilk, without commenting on fully versus partially thawed. These guidelines are pretty widely accepted and comparable to any other reliable guidelines that I've seen.

However, these guidelines do mention the sniff/taste test (in general, not specifying refrigerated or frozen). Keep in mind that frozen milk can smell and possibly taste a little "off" anyway, so comparing it to fresh or refrigerated milk may mean throwing away milk that you might not need to; but unless you are familiar with what your frozen milk usually smells and tastes like you might want to err on the side of caution. On the other hand if it doesn't seem too bad you might take a calculated risk and try giving a small amount to baby who is more familiar with it and see if he balks.

The second link is to a recent Mothering article that implies that you can re-freeze fully thawed milk.

The third link is to an article on food storage in general. The rule of thumb it gives is that you can re-freeze most anything that hasn't fully thawed.

I think the new rule of thumb combines the principles from the second two links. So it would seem that it is ok to re-freeze milk that hasn't fully thawed.

Breastmilk Storage & Handling
www.kellymom.com/bf/pumping/milkstorage.html

Traveling With Breastmilk
www.mothering.com/articles/ne...reastmilk.html
EXCERPT
?The researchers took frozen breastmilk and thawed it, refroze it, refrigerated it and left it out at room temperature. Essentially, they beat it up. What did they find? Breastmilk is fairly robust and does not grow bacteria easily nor lose vitamins A and C or free fatty acids (FFA) to any degree that would harm a full term baby.?

Quality for Keeps: Freezer Problem Solver
extension.missouri.edu/explor...nut/gh1506.htm
EXCERPT "Refreezing: In general, food can safely be refrozen only if it still contains ice crystals or if it has been at refrigerator temperature (40 degrees Fahrenheit) for no longer than two days. In addition, use the following guidelines: If foods are completely thawed and have warmed above room temperature, foods should not be refrozen. Discard these foods. ??

has it thawed out? If it hasn't then put in someone else's freezer asap until yours is mended?
If you live in the NE you can keep it in mine.

If you have to throw away all/most of it, then let me know and i can tell you how to rebuild your stock by building in an extra feed for the pump.

What kind of pump are you using?

i feel for you DPO. i've been expressing for emergency bottles and for freezer for when i come back to work. if i miss a drop i already get upset, its hard working expressing for me.

wishing you genuine luck!

Thanks for all this information. I think I have had it as it is completely thawed and, jdging by the smell in the freezer, the freezer has been broken for a few days as the meat etc in it has gone off. We were away at the weekend and so haven't been in the freezer since the end of last week.

Knifewieldingtoddler, how can I build up my supply for the pump? I have a double hospital grade one which is great. I can usually get about 4oz out if I do it first thing in the morning. Seems to have slackened off a bit lately though. Any tips for building up supply?

Thanks for all your kind words. Much appreciated. Am completely gutted but so long as I can get some in, it'll be OK. Need 3 bottles for Sat as am doing some work then. Any hints for rapid increase?

pump from the opposite side while feeding from the other.

also if you wait an hr or so at bedtime, you can pump both breasts. pump for say 20 or 30 mins, you may just get drops but after a few nights, you will get appreciable amounts by the end of the week you should be getting a 'full feed'. You could also do this if she takes a long nap in teh afternoon. pump halfway or so during her nap. don't worry if they wake up, even while you are pumping, you can just go feed, as it will cunningly help to build your supply for that 'pump feed'.

oh, if after your main letdown and when you stop getting milk, keep pumping. about 10 mins later you will get another small letdown of really creamy milk. or just stop pumping and go pump again 10 or 15 mins later. good luck

Oh I really feel for you - I have just dumped 6 weeks' worth of refrozen ebm as my freezer broke too.

I hadn't seen the kellymom link and wasn't able to refreeze it quickly enough - it was pretty slushy by the time I got it to a friend's freezer.

So annoying after hours of pumping. Like you, I find I can get 4oz first thing so am trying to be really organised and do it every day - total pita. Good luck with your pumping.