Scalding milk

[rrs]

Is it possible to scald breast milk in the microwave?

I know that you shouldn’t warm it for consumption in the microwave, but would it be ok to scald it? I have excessive lipase. Starting tomorrow I’m going to be out of the house for 9 hours, twice a week. I had previously assumed that I would just have to pump and dump, but came across some information about scalding (cow’s) milk in the microwave. Is this a viable way of denaturing lipase in breast milk? I’d love to be able to use the milk I’ll be pumping!

[pdxmomazon]

I have too much lipase, too. I scald in a pan, so I can't tell you about the microwave part. Yes, it definitely helps prevent the fat break down that causes the soapy smell. It's mentioned briefly in the Sears bf book. If you don't have a stove at where you'll be I would invest in a single burner hot plate and a pan you can keep there. I would be worried about the uneven heating of a microwave and the chance that you might accidentally boil the milk!

[jdejong]

I too have too much lipase - what a drag! I use a pan, but one time I thought I'd not be able to get home from work in time to scald, and planned to use a cheap hot-water kettle, like this: http://www.amazon.com/Proctor-Silex-...4323397&sr=8-1

That way, you can just lift the lid and watch for when the milk scalds, and you can plug it in anywhere. Just keep a close eye on it, milk scalds so fast. Good luck!

[rrs]

Thanks for the suggestions. Unfortunately, they won't work, as I'm pumping in a restroom at school. I have access to a communal microwave across campus. I don't have a place to store anything. I currently just keep my pump in my backpack.

Unless I can find information supporting scalding milk in the microwave, I'll continue pumping and dumping while at school.

Again, thank you.

[Romana]

Does your baby refuse your milk? I thought that as long as the baby took the milk, it didn't matter that there was excess lipase.

Also, would a microwave across campus work? I would think that in the time it took to cross the campus (I'm thinking 10-20 min) that your milk would already have suffered the effects?

Here is another resource where someone says scalding in the microwave is fine: http://forums.llli.org/showthread.php?t=297&page=2

And another source: http://parents.berkeley.edu/advice/n...sstasting.html

I did find that the easiest way to deal with my problem was to microwave the milk briefly before freezing. Not to boiling, just until it's hot to the touch. This is effectively the same treament as stovetop scalding, but a lot more convenient. For my very wimpy microwave, this was about 1 min. for 4 oz. of breastmilk. I know that ''do not microwave breastmilk'' is a mantra out there because you will damage or destroy the beneficial antibodies. However, in this situation, the purpose is exactly to heat-inactivate the lipase enzyme (too bad we can't selectively inactivate only some enzymes). In any case, scalded breastmilk still retains all the wonderful nutritional qualities even if some of the immunological benefits are diminished, and it's better than having baby refuse to drink the breastmilk at all.

So maybe you'll be fine! Better than pumping and dumping.