Baby won't drink thawed frozen milk

Q

Query

Registered User
I've just started going to work and have a freezer full of frozen BM for feeding her during the day whilst I'm at work. However, my helper has told me that my 4-month old does not like the thawed frozen BM and is not drinking it. Does the taste of the BM change after being frozen and thawed? Does anyone have similar experience and can tell me what I can do about it to get her to finish the supply of frozen BM? I don't want to throw out the BM and feed her formula instead.
 
i think it does change, i ended up throwing out the two full freezers of the 'sweat and tears'.

she got sick after the first feeding of thawed milk, could be the processing, could be just coincidence, but she didn't like it either. and i didn't dare feed her again with the thawed milk, but i do think it will taste different, any of our adult foods will probably taste different after freezing.

i know the pain of throwing frozen milk away, but on the other hand if baby doesn't like, you do want baby to be happy after all, so i won't try to force it down her throat (not that you can anyways).... i'll try a few more times, ask your helper to thaw in smaller portions maybe getting baby used to the taste... but i think there's only so much you can do.
 
You could try thawing a bag of EBM and trying it yourself to see if the taste has gone off. Be careful not to shake around the EBM too much, eg when warming it up. My helper and I have noticed that if we shake the EBM too much it gets a fishy smell. Hopefully Sarah of LLL will see your post and have some suggestions. I know that there is an enzyme called lipase which can change the taste of the EBM, although it does not actually make the milk bad. See the attached link for more info: http://www.kellymom.com/bf/pumping/lipase-expressedmilk.html
 
I know breast milk changes in composition - more hind milk during growth spurts and all that. I know breast milk which is a week old looks different to breast milk frozen the day before. We had the same issue with breast milk which was stored in the freezer - my son just wouldnt take it, only wanted the fresh stuff even if it came out of the fridge from the day before. Then slowly started to introduce 3 day old milk from freezer. I couldnt get him to accept anything "older" than that. I really dont know what you do if you are returning to work - get your helper to bring the baby to work? Express at work more regularly. It is tough I am sure
 
The usual guidelines for storing breast milk are breast milk lasts up to 7 days in the fridge and 3 months in the freezer. This is talking about the bacterial count in the milk is so low that it is safe to feed to your baby. In fact they found that the amount of bacteria in the milk is less after 7 days than when first expressed. This is because breast milk contains so many anti-germ agents.

However your milk can also go rancid (just like butter). This happens when the lipase in the milk changes the fats in the milk. It is difficult to know how long each mother can store her milk before it goes rancid because each mother has different amounts of lipase. Some mothers have no problems storing milk for 7 days, others can only manage 3 days and the unlucky few can only manage 24 hours.

The unfortunately thing is that the lipase can still break down the fats in the freezer. Thus sometimes frozen milk is rancid when it is thawed. It isn?t known whether or not rancid milk can harm the baby but most babies won?t drink it.

You can prevent your milk from turning rancid in the future by heating your expressed milk to scald (bubbling around the edges but not boiling) right after collecting it and then quickly cooling and freezing it. Scalding inactivates the lipase. Once milk has acquired the rancid smell, however, treating the milk will not help.

If it is possible I would consider expressing or pumping one day and giving that milk to the baby the next day. This way you won?t have to freeze the milk, only keep it in the fridge and the baby is much less likely to reject it.

Best wishes,
SARAH
 
Thanks everyone for your input. It is very helpful. I will try to feed my baby EBM that's been pumped that day or the day before. As for the EBM in the freezer, I probably have to bin it. What a waste!!! After all those hours spent pumping to make sure baby has enough BM for when I go back to work. It sure is hard being a mother.
 
Before you bin it, I would try some that has been frozen later rather then earlier. Also, it could be the positioning in your freezer (if it's iceless) and has been on self defrosting cycles those milks sitting closest to the sides might have gone off but those nearer the middle might be ok. I'm having the same problem but find that if I defrost it slowly in warm water and serve straight away (not thaw in the fridge overnight and serve next day) it's better.
 
Not sure if this has been addressed, but has your baby taken a bottle at all?

If not, it may not be anything to do with your milk and more a question of the method.

My son has refused the bottle at 8 months since he's not had them often. I've been finding a sippy cup works.
 
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