Gah, Grrrrrrrrrrrrrr and Aggggrrrhh. I could cry,

[VeryHungryKatypillar]

I've been solidly expressing and freezing ready for when DD goes to nursery in Jan. She used to take a bottle of EBM every other night but over the past few months she hasn't needed this or DH has been too knackered/busy at work to help.

So DH tried her with a bottle this weekend when I was out and she wouldn't take it. Not a disaster and can be remedied, although I'm not sure whether we can do it in time for my night out on Friday.

So we've been trying to get her used to the bottle again, tried her with it yesterday and she started to suck, then pulled a face and refused any more. I tasted my milk and it was foul, really soapy and minging. And now I've read on Kellymom that this could be due to an excess of a certain enzyme and that I should have been scalding my milk before freezing.

Am so upset, have a freezer drawer full of milk for DD. Was really hoping to get to a year, but I can't see how I'm going to do that now. She still has loads of milk feeds in the day and I won't be able to express at work (even if I had the time, it's such a stressful atmosphere I really don't think I'll get a good enough let down).

Aggggggggggggrrrrrrhhhhhhhhhh.
Just wanted to let it all out really. Sorry if I've ranted.

OH VHKP,

Thats terrible news. I dont know what to suggest.. [SAD] I can remember spilling 2oz of EBM straight after spending approx 30mins expressing it (with dd1) and i cried then.. my DH said "theres no point crying over spilt milk!" This made me 100 times worse.

Just thought i would send you {Big Hugs} to help you feel better. Surely it wouldn't do her any harm - it just a case of getting her used to the taste! or is it that bad?

Ahh, thanks determination.

It's pretty rank. Not off tasting, but very soapy. Makes me feel a bit queezy. We will try to persist with it, but I'm not very optimistic. And I am sure that nursery won't be as persistent as we would be.

I have bought some cartons of formula to try and I probably will cry if she drinks it.

how old will she be when she goes to nursery? I had real problems with expressing and DD refused bottles completely at home and nursery. She went to nursery two days a week at 9 months and on those days I fed her morning, when we got home and before bed and all was fine. She had water and solids in the day. She did take to cows milk from a cup at 1 so it was only a short time for the problem. Still feeding (though only before bed) at 16 months.

Hi
I've never heard of this what does it mean 'scalding milk before freezing it??'.
I expressed and froze my milk with no treatments a lot and never heard such a thing. Have you looked on the Breastfeeding Network site, I followed their advice and there was no mention of treatments.

Your milk does change taste at different times, due to diet etc and I remember mine coming out lime green once! I would guess the rest of your milk will be fine and he was just having an off day.
Don't lose hope, you have been very patient and forward planning I'm sure it wil be fine.

Catz - DD will be 9.5 mo when she goes to nursery (8 mo now). I've been hoping she'd drop a milk feed, but she's showing no sign of it. I really don't want her to start feeding lots in the night again as I won't be able to function at work. Perhaps she'll be fine.. but I'm so gutted about the stuff in the freezer! The milk bank won't take stuff which isn't frozen in their own bottles, so it's completely wasted.

shandybass - I'd not heard of it either. You heat up your milk before freezing - this does mean that some of the 'goodness' is removed but apparently makes it more likely that the soapy milk won't be rejected. This is only supposed to be the way to do it if you have an excess of this enzyme which does something to the milk which makes it taste soapy. I read about it on the usually very reliable kellymom.com. I've tried some other bags of milk and they're all pretty gross. Thanks for your kind words though.

All those hours plugged into the pump for nought when I could have been sleeping. Bah!

hi, know how you feel bout wasted milk. I had bout 50-80oz of ebm in freezer when the door seal went and it defrosted and then froze again, i had to throw the whole lot away!!!(fsad).

That happened to me as well, though the milk had been in the freezer for ages first. It is really, really foul isn't it?

Sorry you have some wasted milk but don't beat yourself up as you couldn't possibly have known.

Don't beat yourself up about it too much. As another poster has said, your LO will survive on water and solids at nursery, and will probably wake you up at night once or twice to make up any deficit. (If you have been pumping at night recently, your supply in those hours is likely to be quite good).

You have done really well to get her to 9.5mths on BM alone, far more than most babies get! As they reach the year mark, if they are still getting one or two BM feeds a day, they are still getting the benefits of immunity, bonding etc.

Go buy yourself a nice treat, and try not to stress over this mishap.

I know, 'snot my fault but am so peed off. Oh well, I shall concentrate on feeling liberated from the pump and smellen, our idea of buying a nice treat is spot on. Some cake methinks.

At least I can stop obsessing about what I would do if we had a powercut!

If she's going to be 9.5 months I would say that she may be ok with no milk during the day. I've had friends who have fed just before they drop off at nursery and then again when they pick up - baby then has food and water throughout the day. DS was a little older (11 months) when I went back to work, and I didn't express for him.

for you with all your pumping, many is the time I cried over that bloody thing, and spilling milk too... ugh!

rant away woman - cake sounds like a good idea too

your idea, sorry. Got massive plaster on my 'y' finger. That's another Grrrrrrrrrr.

Fed DS until 14 mo and DD until 20 mo.
Went back to work 4 days per week when DS was 5 mo and DD was 6 mo.
Never expressed.
Both refused bottles (either ebm or formula) and would survive on water and solids during the day (weaning advice was 16 weeks with DS and 26 weeks with DD).
So I would not worry about your lost freezer supply nor your DDs ability to happily survive without bm during the day.
Well done for bf so long.
I remember being wound up before going back to work after each of mine and feeding was one of the issues.
But you will soon establish a new routine that will be fine and your DD will flourish happily, if my LOs are anything to go by.
HTH

Thanks mamijacacalys, I just hope she can survive without too many night feeds...

Well, after mentioning my obsession with powercuts on this thread yesterday - we had a powercut last night which lasted for 1.5 hours. Spooky or what? DH reckoned the milk was still frozen when the power came back on, but should I chuck it now or keep it just in case DD can develop a taste for soap?

I used to feed DD in the morning, after work and once during the night (but that was mainly a short comfort feed to get her back to sleep) and my supply was fine. After the first week or so, never had problems with leaking boobs either - supply just seemed to adjust itself.....
Once I went back to work, I think we both regarded it about being as much about comfort as nutrition. Was particularly important when they were ill (they both went to nursery 2 out of the 4 days I was working and inevitably caught lots of things initially, but they became very healthy small children who are hardly ever ill which of course I attribute that to the bf....) I also co-slept with both until they stopped bf.
DD can't actually have been taking much milk at all at the end because I had no boob soreness or engorgement whatsoever when she stopped.
Amazing how it all adapts naturally.....