how does freezing EBM spoil its beneficial properties?

[olivo]

I am lucky enough to have a good supply this time around and so have been pumping and freezing milk to use at a later date. however, i read something the pother day which said that freezing EBM would spoil some of its beneficial qualities; it didnt go into any more detail and i havent come up with much from googling.

can anyone tell me how/what it spoils?

Well fresh breastmilk is live - like blood. It's got live cells in it. Some of the antibodies etc. are live. Freezing kills them. It doesn't stop it being a zillion times better than formula - just a minute bit less good than fresh breastmilk!

thanks FB. so.....if i am pumping for a 'special occasion'(!), it is marginally better to give DD the fresh EBM, than to freeze the fresh and defrost some frozen? (i had been doing the latter to ensure that the older stuff was used up but none of it is too old as she's only 14 weeks)

yes, marginally better. The other thing to bear in mind is that your evening milk has more sleepy hormones in than your morning milk, so try to express at the time you're expecting your baby to have the milk.

thanks. i read about that study and have recently been trying to express a bit at night. TBH though, mornings are just so much easier!

oh, and remember even if it's frozen it may still 'go off' - mine wouldn't keep any longer than about 6wks, so if you have some elderly stocks it may be better to use them up rather than have to bin them.

uh oh, how do you know if it has gone off?does it smell funny? will check out my stocks tonight......

Once it's been frozen you have to use it straight after defrosting. I kept some for DD to have in an insulated bag for about 3 hours and it was disgusting - Don't forget EBM will keep safely in the fridge for eight days as long as it on the shelf not in the door cabinet. I was a bit at that but used fresh milk like that for over a year with DD and no ill effects at all. In fact, i think there was a study showing the "good" bacteria actually multiplied the longer it was kept but 8 days was the tipping point. I think the NHS sticks to a conservative 5 days.

freezing won't kill the anitbodies etc, it'll just make them sleepy.
once you've warmed it back up to temperature they'll wake up again.

the door of the fridge is higher in temp than the shelf.

and you'll get the best benefit if you use the milk at the same time of day as when you expresssed it (use morning milk in the morning, night milk at night: it's to do with levels of chemicals that cause sleepiness and awakeness: it was in New Scientist in October)

taste it - if it is off you will know immmediately - it's vile

don't worry unless you have really vintage stuff, and remember to use the oldest ones first!

bleurggh, i hate milk anyway so it'd always taste grim

will add 'sort through bm' to my to-do list! will also start labelling with time of day.
thank everyone.

no this is grimmer than grim

I had to have a large gin healthy glass of juice to take the taste away

note to self.....taste before embarking on large glass of chardonnay......