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Excess lipase anyone?

1K views 13 replies 6 participants last post by  PatioGardener 
#1 ·
I've been pumping after feeds to have milk to leave for my one-year-old when he starts daycare on Monday and I noticed that the milk looked odd and curdled.
It tasted gross - soapy and sour. I thawed and tasted some of my freezer stash. Same thing
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I'm betting this is excess lipase but all I know about it is what I was able to read about it on kellymom.com. Anyone know more? Any tips? Is scalding my only option? My milk seems to sour within hours and I can't scald at work. I've read the lipase is activated by cold, Should I keep my BM at room temp until I get home?
And how could I suddenly have this problem when I never noticed it pumping for DS1 or for DS2 as a newborn?
 
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#2 ·
Since your baby is over 12 months you don't need to leave milk for while you are gone. That elilminates the problem. Your baby can eat solids and drink water while you are away and breastfeed when you are together. Your body will adjust. Of course a 12 month old can be weaned and not have any human milk at all. It will be easier for you and your baby will still have his needs met if you don't try and pump and leave milk.

If a child were to be weaned at 12 months they don't need to drink cow's milk. The recommendation for cow's milk is only 2 toddler size servings a day. Your child is getting better than cow's milk with at least 2 servings of human milk a day. If a toddler eats foods with milk in them they can easily get more than their 2 servings a day since most toddlers like foods with milk in them. Cows milk can cause constipation, digestive problems, and other health problems.

It only takes about 10 oz a day of human milk a day to meet the recommended toddler requirements of 12 oz cows milk a day (milk or milk products). If you are nursing several times in 24 hours you toddler is probably getting more than that. The US dairy industry is strong and the recommended requirements for milk may be inflated to try and sell more milk. It has been an issue for years.

I hope this helps. If there are times you have to pump for comfort and your milk tastes gross you can just toss it. Instead of thinking of your milk as liquid gold you can think of it as a renewable resource.
 
#3 ·
Oh Megan, I am SO SORRY! I know just how you feel - I have high lipase too. My little guy (20 months old) gets a thermos of MamaMilk with lunch at day care. I pump at work and he gets it the next day and rarely has it gone bad by then. He just won't drink it if it has curdled, so I never worry about sending him with it.I try t

I try to pump at noon or later, and put my milk in a cooler with ice packs at work then in the fridge at home over night. The day care puts it right in the fridge too, so it stays as cool as possible.

If I don't pump on Sunday there is no milk for Monday's lunch, so I just tell the day care to give more water.

Scalding never worked for me even when I was at home.I can t

I can tell you that the lipase seems to vary with my milk - sometimes Friday's milk lasts until Monday and sometimes it doesn't.

Good luck with your first day of day care!
 
#4 ·
Thanks, Patio. I really appreciate the commiseration. It's adding to my stress about the fact that my little guy has yet to get much out of a cup just days before he's starting daycare. He'll get water or milk into his mouth and just let it run out! I'd hoping that having my milk in the cup might help but we'll keep working on it. I'm glad to hear that the lipase may not inevitably spoil my milk.
Thanks for the input, FIBJ. I realize that I may not need to pump - we co-sleep so I know my son will get lots of milk that way - but I'd hoped to express milk to keep my supply high. I've had good supply with him but I've battled low supply in the past and I think I'm one of those women who has to nurse really frequently to produce lots of milk.
I will have to pump this time at least at the beginning to prevent plugged ducts but I may see how it goes. With my first son, I was skipping lunch so I could pump in a bathroom stall
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It would be nice to skip that if nursing in the evening,overnight and morning is enough for him and my supply.
 
#6 ·
Ugh, how upsetting! I have excess lipase too, but not to that extent. Usually scalding within 1-2 days is okay. She'll drink the thawed scalded milk no problem even two months later, whereas it got gross after being frozen for two weeks otherwise.

I don't know a lot about changes in milk composition as babies grow older, maybe there's something there that's the culprit? Not sure why it wouldn't have happened with your older kids too.

I'm not much help. Is there no way at all you can scald at work? Could you get an electric water-heater thingy and use it as a water bath at your desk? (I don't know what you do... scalding at work would be really unrealistic for me too based on the way my work is set up.) You could try leaving it at room temp like you mentioned... you have nothing to lose, right? If it sours within hours, you could at least get the later pumping(s) home before they go bad.
 
#7 ·
Thanks, Patio. A straw cup is a great idea because part of his problem is understanding he needs to tip the cup.
Quote:
Originally Posted by erigeron View Post

Ugh, how upsetting! I have excess lipase too, but not to that extent. Usually scalding within 1-2 days is okay. She'll drink the thawed scalded milk no problem even two months later, whereas it got gross after being frozen for two weeks otherwise.

I don't know a lot about changes in milk composition as babies grow older, maybe there's something there that's the culprit? Not sure why it wouldn't have happened with your older kids too.

I'm not much help. Is there no way at all you can scald at work? Could you get an electric water-heater thingy and use it as a water bath at your desk? (I don't know what you do... scalding at work would be really unrealistic for me too based on the way my work is set up.) You could try leaving it at room temp like you mentioned... you have nothing to lose, right? If it sours within hours, you could at least get the later pumping(s) home before they go bad.
I actually share an office with a male competitor, if you can believe it. I'm not sure if I want to be "that lady who cooks her own milk at her desk."
orngtongue.gif

I only plan to pump once at work - twice if I have to work late - but I'll try to experiment a bit this weekend to see how long it stays fresh and if it makes a difference if it's at room temp or cold. I've read BM is OK at room temp for 10 hours.
I've also been thinking about WHY I want to pump and it's mostly just so I can have enough milk to nurse on weekends. I actually don't mind if DS has cow's milk at daycare. So if I have to pump and dump for a while I can live with it.
 
#8 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by Megan73 View Post
I'm not sure if I want to be "that lady who cooks her own milk at her desk."
orngtongue.gif
Yeah, I'm pretty sure I get some o_O behind my back. Yesterday I was that lady who took over the break room to pump. Not my fault the store I was at had no other room besides the bathroom with a door that shut (never mind locked).

Know a female coworker you can trust, who has an office to herself?
 
#9 ·
I had high lipase with DS too. He got goat's milk in a sippy cup while at daycare, but really didn't drink much. He ended up reverse cycling and getting all he needed at night while we snuggled. I found even after scalding it still tasted "off".
 
#11 ·
I have excess lipase in my milk. It seems to go bad after about 8 hours. I scald the milk in a bottle warmer if I'm going to freeze it or if it's going to be in the fridge very long. The bottle warmer is much much easier than trying to do it on the stove and I think you could use it pretty discretely at your desk or wherever you pump before you throw it in the fridge.
 
#12 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by eirual View Post

I had high lipase with DS too. He got goat's milk in a sippy cup while at daycare, but really didn't drink much. He ended up reverse cycling and getting all he needed at night while we snuggled. I found even after scalding it still tasted "off".
What a bummer! I hope DS will reverse cycle but I am dreading going back to work with broken sleep...
Quote:
Originally Posted by MadelinesMama View Post

I have excess lipase in my milk. It seems to go bad after about 8 hours. I scald the milk in a bottle warmer if I'm going to freeze it or if it's going to be in the fridge very long. The bottle warmer is much much easier than trying to do it on the stove and I think you could use it pretty discretely at your desk or wherever you pump before you throw it in the fridge.
Great tip! I checked out the link you provided and I assume you scald using the sanitize setting?
 
#13 ·
It comes with a little measuring cup thing with different letters marked on it. I use the C or D fill line depending on how much milk I pumped. I just played around with it and a candy thermometer (which has a scald marker on it) until I found the lowest setting that would get me to scald. I didn't want to go super hot because I wanted to retain as much of the good stuff as possible, while still being effective.
 
#14 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by MadelinesMama View Post

It comes with a little measuring cup thing with different letters marked on it. I use the C or D fill line depending on how much milk I pumped. I just played around with it and a candy thermometer (which has a scald marker on it) until I found the lowest setting that would get me to scald. I didn't want to go super hot because I wanted to retain as much of the good stuff as possible, while still being effective.
I love this tip! Megan please post if you decide to use the bottle warmer to scald - I'd love to hear how it goes.
 
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