Oversupply and/or lipase moms - a quick question

[cristeen]

Just because I've been overwhelmingly curious about this. We get donor milk from oversupply moms and there seems to be an inordinant number who have lipase, so I'm just curious to see the numbers.

[Hopesmommy]

I didn't vote, but I wanted to say that I don't have over supply, but I do have an overactive letdown, and I have lipase.

[boobs4milk]

i voted "other" because i used to have os (8+ oz extra/day) and i did/do not have lipase. unfortunately, now i struggle to keep up because of a surgery back in dec.

[Sarah]

This poll really disturbs me because it perpetuates this myth that is growing so fast- that some women have defective breastmilk.

Listen up... everyone has Lipase.

Lipase is an enzyme present in breastmilk which begins to break down fats in the milk to assist the baby's immature digestive system- you can consider it like one part of the chain of human digestion- like amylase in saliva begins breaking down starches in your mouth while you chew.

Breastmilk is a perfect food that evolved to go from your breast into your baby's mouth and into their stomach in a period of about 1 second. It's perfect food as is.

Now in the modern world- women want to take the milk out of their breast, put it in a bottle, cool it down, store it and feed it to the baby months later... and because the lipase went to town on the fats in the milk- these women are now being diagnosed as having an imbalance of this enzyme in their milk!!... As if they aren't dealing with enough- now- even from lactivist corners- this is discussed as if there is something wrong with them and their milk! Ladies- after all we have worked for to get the world to re-understand that breastmilk is the perfect food and to teach women to have confidence in their body- now we have this message coming from witin!? If a mom only ever nursed her baby- no one would ever be the wiser- their milk would taste and smell like sweet custard right to the moment it got mixed with stomach acid! By the time you sniff something "off" in the fridge- the breastfed baby would have pissed it out into their diaper already!

It's not the milk that's to "fault" it's the delay in getting it to the baby's stomach that is the *problem* Just because the ability to delay the transfer is a convenient, sometimes life saving technology that has enabled mothers and babies to have breastmilk when nursing isn't possible- Please please please could we point the finger at the "lipase problem" and name it properly- it's the delay- not the mother's milk that causes the issue! Lipase is supposed to be there- it's one of the great things about breastmilk- it has an enzyme that helps baby digest fats! Lipase is not a bad thing!

[Mulvah]

I do not have excessive lipase and I have an oversupply issue.

[Xavismom]

Originally Posted by Sarah

This poll really disturbs me because it perpetuates this myth that is growing so fast- that some women have defective breastmilk.

Listen up... everyone has Lipase.

Lipase is an enzyme present in breastmilk which begins to break down fats in the milk to assist the baby's immature digestive system- you can consider it like one part of the chain of human digestion- like amylase in saliva begins breaking down starches in your mouth while you chew.

Breastmilk is a perfect food that evolved to go from your breast into your baby's mouth and into their stomach in a period of about 1 second. It's perfect food as is.

Now in the modern world- women want to take the milk out of their breast, put it in a bottle, cool it down, store it and feed it to the baby months later... and because the lipase went to town on the fats in the milk- these women are now being diagnosed as having an imbalance of this enzyme in their milk!!... As if they aren't dealing with enough- now- even from lactivist corners- this is discussed as if there is something wrong with them and their milk! Ladies- after all we have worked for to get the world to re-understand that breastmilk is the perfect food and to teach women to have confidence in their body- now we have this message coming from witin!? If a mom only ever nursed her baby- no one would ever be the wiser- their milk would taste and smell like sweet custard right to the moment it got mixed with stomach acid! By the time you sniff something "off" in the fridge- the breastfed baby would have pissed it out into their diaper already!

It's not the milk that's to "fault" it's the delay in getting it to the baby's stomach that is the *problem* Just because the ability to delay the transfer is a convenient, sometimes life saving technology that has enabled mothers and babies to have breastmilk when nursing isn't possible- Please please please could we point the finger at the "lipase problem" and name it properly- it's the delay- not the mother's milk that causes the issue! Lipase is supposed to be there- it's one of the great things about breastmilk- it has an enzyme that helps baby digest fats! Lipase is not a bad thing!

Thank you so much for explaining this!! I actually had no idea what lipase was, but I have oversupply so I saw this post and started to worry until I read this!

[cristeen]

Originally Posted by Sarah

This poll really disturbs me because it perpetuates this myth that is growing so fast- that some women have defective breastmilk.

Wow. Where on earth did I ever say that this = defective? So far as I know, I didn't even imply it. My little guy will eat it lipase or no, and I'm grateful for every drop of BM we get from our donors, lipase or not... I was just curious.

[texmati]

Originally Posted by cristeen

Wow. Where on earth did I ever say that this = defective? So far as I know, I didn't even imply it. My little guy will eat it lipase or no, and I'm grateful for every drop of BM we get from our donors, lipase or not... I was just curious.

I think she just means that the question is sort of misleading. Some mom's have the problem of over supply (over supply mom's.)

There's no such things as "lipase mom's", just mom's who have kept their breastmilk for so long that the lipase enzyme has caused a change in their milk.

I would guess that it would happen to all milk at some point, if it didin't go bad first.

[Penny4Them]

Pardon my ignorance, but how do you tell lipase? Is it when the milk separates in dots?

[texmati]

Originally Posted by Penny4Them

Pardon my ignorance, but how do you tell lipase? Is it when the milk separates in dots?

From what I've read, Lipase is an enzyme that breaks down the fats. Once it starts to do that, the milk tastes sort of soapy/metalic. Some baby's have a problem with it, some don't.

The oldest milk in my freezer sometimes tastes plasticy to me. I don't really consider it an issue since my LO takes it fine.

[UberMama]

I was pumping 100 oz a day after the birth of my last surrogate son. :/ As far as I know, I had no lipase issues (tested my own milk months later after freezing, never had a family that accepted my milk complain or say a word to me).

[Sarah]

If you do a google search fror "Lipase LLL forum and Scald" there is a 29 page thread about women who are dealing with this issue and how they are managing it. I'm sorry that my reaction to this thread may have seemed unwarranted, it's just that after reading 29 pages of stories from women stating "I just found out that I have excessive lipase" I was feeling very sad about the potential for this to become accepted terminology and spawn a myth that many women have milk that is somehow defective.

It's actually true that there are some medical conditions a monther can have which do cause her to produce more lipase than normal- true excessive lipase could be a sympton of some other health issue the mother is dealing with. But we are not talking about using breastmilk composition to diagnose maternal illness (like a blood test), we are just talking about storing expressed breastmilk... and the vast majority of women having these storage challenges do not have health problems, they just have normal wonderful perfect breastmilk.

[boobs4milk]

Originally Posted by Sarah

This poll really disturbs me because it perpetuates this myth that is growing so fast- that some women have defective breastmilk.

Listen up... everyone has Lipase.

Lipase is an enzyme present in breastmilk which begins to break down fats in the milk to assist the baby's immature digestive system- you can consider it like one part of the chain of human digestion- like amylase in saliva begins breaking down starches in your mouth while you chew.

Breastmilk is a perfect food that evolved to go from your breast into your baby's mouth and into their stomach in a period of about 1 second. It's perfect food as is.

Now in the modern world- women want to take the milk out of their breast, put it in a bottle, cool it down, store it and feed it to the baby months later... and because the lipase went to town on the fats in the milk- these women are now being diagnosed as having an imbalance of this enzyme in their milk!!... As if they aren't dealing with enough- now- even from lactivist corners- this is discussed as if there is something wrong with them and their milk! Ladies- after all we have worked for to get the world to re-understand that breastmilk is the perfect food and to teach women to have confidence in their body- now we have this message coming from witin!? If a mom only ever nursed her baby- no one would ever be the wiser- their milk would taste and smell like sweet custard right to the moment it got mixed with stomach acid! By the time you sniff something "off" in the fridge- the breastfed baby would have pissed it out into their diaper already!

It's not the milk that's to "fault" it's the delay in getting it to the baby's stomach that is the *problem* Just because the ability to delay the transfer is a convenient, sometimes life saving technology that has enabled mothers and babies to have breastmilk when nursing isn't possible- Please please please could we point the finger at the "lipase problem" and name it properly- it's the delay- not the mother's milk that causes the issue! Lipase is supposed to be there- it's one of the great things about breastmilk- it has an enzyme that helps baby digest fats! Lipase is not a bad thing!

this was a bit harsh. i believe cristeen was simply curious to see if os and excess lipase were connected in some way. those of us who answered are most likely versed in what lipase is, the fact that we all have it, and that the op inferred an excess of lipase. i ep'ed for my son and pumped milk for the last 2 (one being a preemie), had os all 3 times and have never had milk spoil until i had leaky storage bags (the milk was probably ok, it most likely just took in odors from fridge). i found some bmilk from when dd3 was a baby last year while stock-piling my pumped milk for dd4. i can't remember the exact date from the baggie, but when i thawed it to pour it on my plants, it only smelled of being frozen, even after 3 years in the deep freeze!

lipase isn't a bad thing, but if you found a 29 page thread on how to get the excess lipase out of milk, then apparently it is a valid issue that some women face. ideally, breastmilk should go from breast straight to baby. if it was all-or-nothing, my baby wouldn't be bf right now because she was 100% bottle fed until she was 4 wks old!

[Pookietooth]

I have excess lipase and it's pretty obvious because my milk starts to taste soapy the next day. Not that I try but I don't have the option to store it for, say, and emergency or something.