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Soured Breastmilk -- troubleshooting help!

tarheelgirl8tarheelgirl8 member
in August 2015 Moms
Last night we tried to give DD a bottle.  It was the first time in about a week that we had given her a bottle.  The milk was 5 days old, never frozen and promptly refrigerated (I had pumped at home).  She would not take the bottle at all, and we finally realized that the milk smelled sour.  Now I'm worried that I may have excess lipase in my milk, in which case my entire freeezer stash may be bad (and I will cry!).  Does anyone have any experience with excess lipase?  Most of the storage guidelines that I've seen say 3-6 days or even 3-8, so we were within all of those.  Or maybe we just need to go by 3 days?

Also, could heating the breastmilk too fast cause it to go sour?  After we discovered the first bottle was bad, we tried the freshest bottle in the fridge which was 4 days old.  It did not smell sour when I pulled it out of the fridge, but after heating it is smelled slightly sour, though not as bad as the first.  I've always heated the bottle by setting it in small saucepan of hot water on the stove top.  

Thanks for your help, ladies!  I've pulled the oldest and newest bags out of the freezer to test tonight.  But in the meantime I am panicking that my entire freezer stash may be soured.  I even had a dream about it last night!


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Re: Soured Breastmilk -- troubleshooting help!

  • SonadoraSonadora member
    I had this problem with my first. She wouldn't take the frozen milk. I discovered that if I froze it within 24 hours of pumping, the milk was fine. Any longer and the lipase was an issue.

    You can also look up procedures fro scalding the milk, it looked like a pain in the rear to me though.
    BFP #1 9/23/09. Missed MC 10w3d D&C 11/3/09.

    BFP #2 4/13/10. Bridget born 12/28/10

    BFP #3 Finn born 8/11/15


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  • tarheelgirl8tarheelgirl8 member
    @sonadora, did you have trouble with never-frozen milk too?  I'm encouraged to hear that your frozen milk was good if frozen immediately.  My freezer stash was frozen right away, so maybe it will still be OK.
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  • Lalala2326Lalala2326 member
    Mine was just an issue regardless of how long before freezing. It was an issue within hours fresh also. I didn't figure it out till 3-4 months in (I'm a SAHM so bottles were a necessity) and my entire freezer stash was no good for bottles. I had to scald the milk right after pumping every time and then that was okay. I used the freezer stash that was no good later on for mixing with solids and for use topically. I could also mix it into fruit smoothies and such or make popsicles from it and blended up fruit. I found uses for it, but it was definitely a little depressing :(

    I would definitely try just freezing it sooner though first or using it within a couple days to see if that takes care of the issue before starting the scalding process and declaring your freezer stash a loss for bottles.
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  • tarheelgirl8tarheelgirl8 member
    @lalala2326, did it smell bad before warming it too?  Or only after?

    And that's good to know that there are a lot of other uses, just in case I find that she won't take my freezer stash.
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  • SonadoraSonadora member
    tarheelgirl8 said:
    @sonadora, did you have trouble with never-frozen milk too?  I'm encouraged to hear that your frozen milk was good if frozen immediately.  My freezer stash was frozen right away, so maybe it will still be OK.
    Yes. It had to be used within 24 hours or my LO wouldn't take it.

    Thankfully this time I don't appear to have this issue or if I do, this LO doesn't mind the taste whereas my first acted like we were poisoning her.
    BFP #1 9/23/09. Missed MC 10w3d D&C 11/3/09.

    BFP #2 4/13/10. Bridget born 12/28/10

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  • Lalala2326Lalala2326 member
    tarheelgirl8 said:
    @lalala2326, did it smell bad before warming it too?  Or only after?

    And that's good to know that there are a lot of other uses, just in case I find that she won't take my freezer stash.

    I want to say it may have smelled a little but was moreso after warmed - probably like most anything. I figured it out eventually cause I tasted a tiny bit, and it tasted soapy.
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  • kegraves28kegraves28 member
    Breast milk is only good for 48 hours in the fridge. If your not going to use it within that time freeze it right away
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  • Lalala2326Lalala2326 member
    kegraves28 said:
    Breast milk is only good for 48 hours in the fridge. If your not going to use it within that time freeze it right away

    That's not true... Its 3-8 days like OP said: https://kellymom.com/bf/pumpingmoms/milkstorage/milkstorage/
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  • kegraves28kegraves28 member
    I won't argue with you but I'm a NICU nurse and this is what we do and what are LC's tell parents
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  • haleykashaleykas member
    I agree with @kegraves28, I am also a nurse and we (and the LC's) tell people at our hospital the taste starts to suffer after 48 hours in fridge. I relate it to leftovers getting that "refrigerator" taste after too long.
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  • Lalala2326Lalala2326 member
    @kegraves28 and @haleykas I could see going by that for preemies and also see taste suffering, but that doesn't mean it is not good any longer. I just don't want anyone reading to get the impression it is spoiled or dangerous after 48 hours (unless possibly for a preemie - no experience there) because it definitely isn't and most babies drink it no problem as long as frozen within the 3-8 day timeframe. A lot of babies don't even mind the lipase taste.
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