frozen milk going rancid- WTF??

[BethSLP]

I pumped and froze milk for my daughter 3 years ago with no problems. This time around I'm having trouble and I'm confused.

I have pumped milk in the regular freezer that is at most 3 months old. It was stored in Mother's Milkmate bottles. The first bottle that came out of that stash was totally funky. The second funky also but not as strong smelling.

I started putting my EBM in breast milk storage bags and putting them in the deep freezer. My mom tried to give my son one today that was only 3 days old. No odor to it, but he wouldn't take it.

I just pumped a bottle straight from the breast to a bottle. He took it fine.

Is it possible I am having a lipase issue with baby #2 but didn't with baby #1 (3 years ago)? Or does my son just not like any milk thats frozen? If it is a lipase issue, does the milk start tasting crummy in 3 days?? The milk that we last tried was only frozen 3 days....

I am going back to work for 2 days per week in the new couple of weeks, and really want to sort this out so my babysitter isn't trying to figure out which milk is good and which is nasty....

Very frustrated.
HELP!
XOXO
B

[tiffani]

Hi Beth,

it does sound like you have a lipase issue -- I'm currently re-lactating for an adoption and pumping a lot, and just realized I have this issue as well. my milk goes sour after only a few hours in the fridge, so I'm assuming the 25 oz I've pumped so far is also bad.

do you know about scalding your milk? if you scald it right after pumping, and then freeze it, it should be fine. there is info on the kellymom website about how to scald, as well as the LLL site. it sounds complicated at first, but doesn't really seem to be once you wrap your head around it... a lot of people use bottle warmers to scald their milk, which would be handy at work or at home...

best wishes!

[3girls1boy]

I also had that issue, but it didn't seem to bother my babies.

I used to take care of my nephew and her milk froze fine, but he just preferred it if it had not been frozen first.

[SundayCrepes]

Your milk is still good. It just smells bad and tastes bad to you. My daughter took it whether it was scalded or not. Some babies will, some won't.

I scalded by placing the milk in a canning jar then placing that in a pot of water. Bring the water to boil and use a candy thermometer in the milk. Different sites suggest different temperatures to heat to. Because I was storing in anticipation of adopting, I didn't know how long my milk would need to last so I heated to 170 degrees. Take the jar out of the water and let it set until it cools (don't put jar in cold water as it will crack.) Once it's cool, pour into freezer bags or bottles.

You can also use a bottle warmer, from what I've read at LLL, but that seemed like a hassle to me.

My milk was horrid within 24 hours in the fridge. The lipase is meant to help the fat break down. Some women have it consistently, some have it intermittently. It's a pain, but not a crisis (once you figure it out.)