How can you tell if frozen ebm is bad?

[spu]

I've read LLL's guidelines and a bunch of others for how long frozen milk can be stored for full-term healthy babies. I've read everything from 3-4 mos to 6 mos. I have a bunch of bags from early Nov. so it's about 4.5 mos. How will I know if it's ok? Will it smell like bad milk if it's gone bad? Even when I've thawed milk that's been frozen for a short time, it still sometimes smells a little cheesy.

I've been storing the milk in freezer bags, double bagged with a tough freezer ziploc storage bag, and they live right under the ice maker so it should be consistently cold. I'm hoping my Nov. supply won't be wasted if I waited too long. ugh!

thanks for any info!

susan

twin girls 7.20.02
charlotte & else

[jojo2324]

Unfortunately my experience has been that you really can't tell it's bad until it's completely thawed and at room temperature. That being said, there were two things that clued me in:

1. It smells very soapy. Not bad, makes-you-want-to-gag smelling, not at all. It just smells like soap.

2. If I couldn't quite pick up on the essence of soap, and tried to feed it to DS anyway, he would immediately whip his head around, push it away, squeal, etc. Anything to get the bottle away from his mouth.

Unfortunately, it seems I was one of those freak women whose breastmilk was unable to be frozen...Something about the lipase breaking down and changing the composition of the milk? Not sure...I had so many stored bags, and all for naught. :(

[Rachels]

If it has really gone bad, it's horribly rancid. You can't miss it. The cheesy smell is normal for frozen EBM and doesn't bother most babies. But they'll refuse bad milk.

-Rachel
Mom to Abigail Rose
5/18/02

[Tanya]

I think your varying information comes from different freezer types. The 3-4 months is for a freezer that is part of your refrigerator. The 6 months is for a "deep freezer" which is a stand alone freezer.

I don't know how to tell if EBM is bad, but I can tell you that there is a difference between the freezer in my side by side freezer and the stand alone freezer I have in my basement. Everything freezes better in the stand alone and lasts much longer.

So, it sounds like you are using a refrigerator freezer, so you'd probably be pushing the recommended timeframe, but it might still be okay....go by the other ladies' suggestions on telling if the milk is bad yet.

Tanya