Mixing breastmilk

[osker]

Hi all,
My wife and I are both lactating to feed our daughter, although she is the primary nurser so far. My question is, can we store our milk together or should we keep it separate? I know that breastmilk "digests" cereal when you make it, so would my milk "digest" her milk or vice versa? We're just looking to store milk in the fridge for a day or so for our little lazy nighttime eater! If we were freezing I think we would definitely separate them...
Thanks!

[PatioGardener]

Interesting question! Looking forward to answers as I have no idea. Milk Bank milk is pooled, but it is Pasteurized first, so I don't think it is the same (you and your wife's milk is live). I guess you could experiment with a small amount and see!

Two lactating moms, how wonderful! Do you mind sharing how you and your wife are going to keep your milk supplies up with sharing the nursing? Do your bodies adjust and make only 1/2 the needed milk, or do you need to pump? I love the idea and would like to encourage couples to do this IRL, but haven't heard how moms actually get it to work.

[ASusan]

I don't know the complete answer to the question, but one thing to watch out for would be if one of you had high lipase. Lipase makes the milk digested, and taste AWFUL (like soap). I would think if one of you had it, and you mixed the milks, it would digest and ruin the other milk, too.

I had high lipase and DS would not drink my pumped milk. I do believe the lipase levels varied over the course of the first year and got higher toward 10 mos (when I finally figured it out and stopped pumping. Scalding, which is the cure for high lipase, was a PITA at work).

[KSDoulaMama]

We've done it once when we were camping and the whole pumping/storing/cleaning process was more difficult. At that time we were spending a lot of time in the car driving to different places to hike and whatnot and we'd give DD a bottle in the car since it was the only thing that made car rides bearable to her, lol. We probably only had the milk pumped for an hour before she drank it... we didn't experience any problems with it though.

[osker]

Originally Posted by PatioGardener

Interesting question! Looking forward to answers as I have no idea. Milk Bank milk is pooled, but it is Pasteurized first, so I don't think it is the same (you and your wife's milk is live). I guess you could experiment with a small amount and see!

Two lactating moms, how wonderful! Do you mind sharing how you and your wife are going to keep your milk supplies up with sharing the nursing? Do your bodies adjust and make only 1/2 the needed milk, or do you need to pump? I love the idea and would like to encourage couples to do this IRL, but haven't heard how moms actually get it to work.

I think we will just have to experiment and see! I don't think either of us has high lipase, at least not as far as we know!

PG, so far we're a work in progress... I, as the non-gestating mom, took birth control for several months and then domperidone for several months to get ready to lactate. Then I started pumping and pumped many, many times a day for six weeks before E was born. After she was born (last week!) I have continued to pump and occasionally H will pump as well. Right now I'm only comfort nursing her after a feed, and not all that often. It's either to calm her down when H cannot, or simply to encourage my milk to increase, but not really to feed her yet. Once H has a good amount of milk and rhythm to her nursing then we hope that I'll be able to nurse E at night and let H sleep all night. We'll see how that goes when we get there!
Thanks for asking about it, it's been interesting to see people's reactions as I've been more open about it all!

[ein328]

Originally Posted by ASusan

I don't know the complete answer to the question, but one thing to watch out for would be if one of you had high lipase. Lipase makes the milk digested, and taste AWFUL (like soap). I would think if one of you had it, and you mixed the milks, it would digest and ruin the other milk, too.

I had high lipase and DS would not drink my pumped milk. I do believe the lipase levels varied over the course of the first year and got higher toward 10 mos (when I finally figured it out and stopped pumping. Scalding, which is the cure for high lipase, was a PITA at work).

Lipase is in all breastmilk, and is part of what makes it so easy on babies' stomachs (I'm not trying to be argumentative, I just don't like when we act as though lipase is a bad thing!) One theory regarding it is that most women wouldn't even notice their lipase levels at all if they didn't pump and store their milk.

Some babies will drink pumped milk regardless of the lipase levels- even if my milk smelled soapy, my daughter would take it- we never had to scald.

I guess I'm just saying that it depends on the baby.

[bella99]

Yup, I went through a period with high lipase, with awful awful tasting soapy milk and my daughter drank it right down.

Sorry to hijack.

[PatioGardener]

Originally Posted by osker

PG, so far we're a work in progress... I, as the non-gestating mom, took birth control for several months and then domperidone for several months to get ready to lactate. Then I started pumping and pumped many, many times a day for six weeks before E was born. After she was born (last week!) I have continued to pump and occasionally H will pump as well. Right now I'm only comfort nursing her after a feed, and not all that often. It's either to calm her down when H cannot, or simply to encourage my milk to increase, but not really to feed her yet. Once H has a good amount of milk and rhythm to her nursing then we hope that I'll be able to nurse E at night and let H sleep all night. We'll see how that goes when we get there!

thanks so much for sharing your experiences! would love to hear how it goes as baby gets older congrats on your little girl

nak

[2boyzmama]

Congratulations on new baby!!! I really hope you find a way to make it work with both of you lactating, I'm also curious to see how it works out, can you post updates maybe?

I would say that one thing to keep in mind is if baby starts showing sensitivities at all, then you need to separate your milk again. Only until you determine whose milk is causing the issue, what you're eating, etc, then you can both eliminate that food and mix milk again.

And with the lipase thing...if your daughter is sensitive to it (I didn't even know about it with my first, my middle didn't care what it tasted like, but my third refused lipase milk) then having non-lipase milk (or lower lipase, as Ein pointed out) is a good thing because you can "dilute" it sort of!

Also, by mixing both of your milks, you can help solve any foremilk/hindmilk issues if they arise. I have oversupply, and when we encounter fore/hind issues, I pump, let my milk separate in the fridge, "skim" the fat off the top of one bottle, add it to another bottle, and voila, more hindmilk! (then I give the bottle that now has much less hindmilk to my older kiddos or use it to make baby food)

There are definitely lots of benefits to this!