frozen EBM

[cara1]

I know this has been discussed before (I've even responded before), but on average, how long have you all kept breastmilk in the freezer. Yesterday, DH defrosted a bag from 9/5 and DS refused to drink it. When DH smelled it, it was disgusting. Three more were the same way. I'm not sure how much of my stash is like this. The bag did look sort of funny, had small white spots on it, rather than being solid. I had really thought that 3 mos was well within accepted limits for freezer storage. I don't think the bag was punctured or anything; I triple bag them (store 4 in a ziploc, and then put two ziplocs in another ziploc). My current message to my MIL is to smell each bag now before she gives it to DS, but this is ridiculous. Plus, if ALL the milk she has is bad, he'll go hungry all day. (She has no room for my ENTIRE stash...) What should I do?

[Momof3Labs]

You are "supposed" to be able to keep it for 3-6 months, but I know someone who cannot freeze her milk - it all goes bad. Something flukey about her. Could you have had a problem with your freezer and not have known about it?

I don't envy you - it would be awful to lose that much liquid gold!!

Lori
mommy to Colin Daniel 9/28/02

[nohomama]

I'm not certain this will be of any help to you but I thought I'd mention it anyway. Do you put your expressed milk in the fridge to let it cool down before you put it in the freezer? I didn't at first until I noticed that the thawed EBM had an odd smell (not sour just strange) and a soapy taste. After doing some reading I discovered that the soapy smell/taste is caused by the breakdown of a particular enzyme in the milk when it's frozen and that cooling the EBM in the fridge before freezing it can mitigate the problem.

Another possibility is that you've got excess lipase in your milk. If that is in fact the case, I'm not certain how/why this hasn't been a problem before now. In any case, excess lipase basically partially digests the milk. It's enzymatic activity increases when it gets cold and means that women with this dubious distinction have an incredibly hard time pumping. One thing that sometimes works is to scald the EBM. Heated breast milk looses some of its benefits but the effect is minimal (human milk banks HAVE to do this) and it can allow women with excess lipase to feed EBM.

You sound like you're extremely conscientious about storing your EBM but make sure the milk is in the center of the freezer. If it's in the door or the back close to the defrosting mechanism, the temperature can fluctuate enough that the milk will spoil.

Good luck figuring out what's going on.

[Rachels]

I am one of the people who posted about this before. What I've learned is that frozen breastmilk often does have an "off' aroma. Also, every mother's milk is different, so the guidelines for how long you can chill or freeze it may or may not be right for you. (Apparently, I'm on the low end of the spectrum-- bummer.) I've discovered that it helps a little if I freeze it in bottles rather than bags. Evenflo and Avent make breastmilk storage bottles. I like the Evenflo because they're a little smaller and can be used with my PIS. Also, I actually find that they stack and store more easily than bags. You might give that a try and see if it helps.

-Rachel
Mom to Abigail Rose
5/18/02