Scalding Breastmilk
When I was having dinner with some friends and family yesterday, I was the same question again. “Am I still breastfeeding my gal?” The answer is yes, but not exclusively anymore. She’s just nursing at night now but I’m not sure when will she wean off.
Then, someone asked me about frozen breastmilk which smells fishy or weird. Most of my frozen breastmilk smelled like that but my kids don’t have problems taking it when they were babies. Frankly, I was not aware of scalding breastmilk until I found out about this from a forum.
This is what I quoted from Kellymom:
A few mothers find that their refrigerated or frozen milk begins to smell or taste soapy, sour, or even rancid soon after it’s stored, even though all storage guidelines have been followed closely. Per Lawrence & Lawrence (p. 781), the speculation is that these mothers have an excess of the enzyme lipase in their milk, which begins to break down the milk fat soon after the milk is expressed. Most babies do not mind a mild change in taste, and the milk is not harmful, but the stronger the taste the more likely that baby will reject it.
If your baby is very particular about the taste, here’s the suggestion:
What can I do if my storage problem is due to excess lipase? Once the milk becomes sour or rancid smelling/tasting, there is no known way to salvage it. However, newly expressed milk can be stored by heating the milk to a scald to inactivate the lipase and stop the process of fat digestion. Scald the milk as soon after expression as possible.
To scald milk:
- Heat milk to about 180 F (82 C), or until you see little bubbles around the edge of the pan (not to a full, rolling boil).
- Quickly cool and store the milk.
Scalding the milk will destroy some of the antiinfective properties of the milk and may lower some nutrient levels, but this is not likely to be an issue unless all of the milk that baby is receiving has been heat-treated.
So, if you are a full time working mother, and if you have doubts on how to feed your baby with frozen breastmilk, you can try scalding it first. I haven’t tried it because I was not aware about this until my second child. I nurse her directly most of the time and I threw away a lot of frozen milk! That’s why I stopped pumping before she turned one because there is no demand for frozen milk. So, if you are worrying about feeding your baby with “smelly” breastmilk, just be assured that it’s consumable.
