Frozen Breastmilk-older than a year?

[DocsNemesis]

I'm just wondering something. I have a BUNCH of frozen breastmilk in my deep freezer but its all over a year old. I know you're supposed to throw it away by then, but why? Is it just not as nutritionally complete or is it actually bad for the baby? I hate to throw it all out when I'm due with another one soon and while I know formula isn't the end of the world, I'd much rather give her bm in a pinch. On the other hand, I don't want to hurt her either, which is why I'm asking.

So, why is it bad? Anyone know? Would you give formula over older frozen breastmilk, even if its just for one feeding?

[boobs4milk]

i would think it would have to do with the 'good stuff' being older and not being in tact or able to withstand thawing and warming. i have some in the deep freezer and i was freaking out that i couldn't use it all by 6 mos. i'm going to try to use what i need and if it's 6 mos +, then i'll just do what i do now: thaw and smell/taste.

did you look on kellymom or dr. sears?

[3girls1boy]

I'm just going by what I've heard about freezing food in general and that is unless you've lost power or for some other reason, frozen food has thawed and refrozen, the issue is not with safety, but basically that the longer something is frozen, it's going to lose some quality as far as taste and texture.

[DocsNemesis]

Yeah, thats kind of what I was thinking. Not that its dangerous or bad persay, but that it might taste off and not be *as* good. I still don't really know if it'd be better just to give formula if needed though. I mean, again, this would just be a rare occasion anyway...its just that my fiance wants to bottle feed at least once a day, which is fine-I can pump and I've already nursed 4 other kids, so I'm not worried about that-but then I don't know that I'll have much of any freezer stash.

[EmilyG]

I gave my older dd breastmilk that had been frozen for just over a year. I couldn't part with it, and it smelled fine when I thawed it. She self-weaned when she was 18 months, but I still had enough of a stash in the freezer to give her some breastmilk every day in a sippy or in her cereal until just after her secod birthday. Sometimes she lef tthe sippy pretty much full, so maybe the taste was off, but it never hurt her.

[PatioGardener]

I'd taste it. If it tasted OK I wouldn't hesitate.

[boobs4milk]

Originally Posted by DocsNemesis

Yeah, thats kind of what I was thinking. Not that its dangerous or bad persay, but that it might taste off and not be *as* good. I still don't really know if it'd be better just to give formula if needed though. I mean, again, this would just be a rare occasion anyway...its just that my fiance wants to bottle feed at least once a day, which is fine-I can pump and I've already nursed 4 other kids, so I'm not worried about that-but then I don't know that I'll have much of any freezer stash.

at least your frozen breastmilk doesn't have high fructose corn syrup.