A few months ago I was doing research via my fellow blogger, Megan's, blog. Her Crew's story contained enough similarities to Chloe's that it was actually extremely useful in preparing me for what awaited us. I remember reading her entry about throwing out her frozen supply of breast milk because her milk contained too much lipase - an enzyme that made the milk taste metallic and soapy (basically really gross) after being frozen and then thawed. I remember thinking, "Oh my gosh! If that happened to me I would FUH-REAK OUT!" Well, I'm borderline freaking out but not as bad as I imagined....
A few days ago I started dipping into my supply of frozen breast milk. Chloe is drinking more as she grows and I'm pumping less often so it was inevitable that I'd need a back up. I wasn't worried, though. I probably have 200 pounds of frozen milk in our deep freezer!
During one of my usual bottle temperature tests I dripped a few drops of milk on my wrist and then cleaned my wrist with my mouth. Yes, I taste my own breast milk on a daily basis. It's not so weird so stop making that face. Plus, I make a habit of tasting things that go into my children's mouths. Anyway, I noticed the milk had a weird fishy taste. The milk was from September so I thought, "That's odd. Maybe I ate fish that day...?" Then it happened again. And again. After the third bag of frozen milk I decided there was no period that I ate fish three days in a row in September. There's something wrong. Chloe never rejected the milk or had any kind of reaction to it so I wasn't too worried. I decided to do a taste test. Tasting the milk "straight" (it's usually mixed with Neosure), revealed the "fishy" taste times ten! What the heck is that?!? My fresh milk tasted good. Then I remembered Megan. She described her milk as soapy and metallic, though. I made Dave taste it because I wanted to rule out the possibility that the milk had just soured. He was less than pleased and made a face after tasting the fresh milk. I rolled my eyes and was about to say, "forget it." But then he tasted the frozen milk and used the word "metallic." CRAP!
The lactation consultant is off today and Chloe's nutritionist isn't familiar with this condition. (What? Something Crappy AND Rare happening to us? What a shocker! ;-) Based on my online research and from talking to Megan the milk should be safe. It's just a flavor issue. Megan and I are guessing that the Neosure flavor is covering up the lipase flavor just enough explaining Chloe's cooperation in drinking the yucky stuff. The nutritionist is sending out an all-points-bulletin to her nutritionist friends to ask if it's ok for Chloe to drink the milk and is checking with the Neo staff. In the meantime I'm using my February milk as backup. That has a less yucky taste. Time seems to have something to do with the intensity of the lipase.
So if they come back with the OK to feed Chloe my lipase milk I'm faced with a decision of what to do:
-Feed Chloe the old stuff before it gets even worse (while she'll still take it), letting the new stuff age in the freezer potentially making it unpalatable, as well. I could decrease my pumping to only two times a day - saving energy and requiring the use of more frozen milk quickly yet maintaining my ability to make milk...?
OR
-Start with the new stuff and expect to eventually throw out the old stuff since it would theoretically get worse with time.
I'm not good at making decisions....
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"It's not so weird so stop making that face." I just burst out laughing.
ReplyDeleteI do NOT envy your decision. I've thought a lot about it this afternoon and I am stumped. My choice was easy in that Crew wouldn't touch it. It was hard enough to get him to drink anything in those early days right when he came home. He certainly wasn't up to drinking liquid aluminum.
Crappy AND rare. Go figure!
My frozen BM does the same thing...has a kinda yucky sour flavor to it. But, I've always given it to my little man, and he's always taken it and it has never made him sick or anything.
ReplyDeleteI think you should be okay. It would be hard for me to throw that liquid gold away!
I would keep pumping though...every 4 hours at least to keep up your supply, if you want to keep feeding her the good stuff, which I'm sure you do :-)
I did a quick search online for solutions to your little problem, and I found something that might help (copied and pasted):
ReplyDeleteLipase is an enzyme that breaks down the fat in breastmilk (It works like a little engine, and just like an engine, additives make it run quicker & better). Enzymes can be activated by metal ions such as Magnesium, Calcium, Manganese. Most likely the problem, for people with high levels of lipase in their BM, is these metals in the tapwater you are using to wash and rinse your breastpump equipment in. Trying washing, and rinsing anything that comes into contact with BM with distilled water. Also use phosphate-free dish soap. This should greatly reduce or even eliminate the problem. You will always have the high lipase in your BM, so your milk will not last as long as BM with normal levels of lipse, but it will last alot longer than a few hours. I’ve used this and even managed to keep my BM frozen up to 3months in a deep freeze w/o getting the soured taste. As long as the bottle/sippy cup I use has been well rinse with distilled water, it has even lasted over 4 hours at room temp w/o souring prematurely.
Unfortunately, it doesn't do much for the milk already sitting in your freezer :( Good luck!
Thanks for the advise! So far so good. She's still taking it fine. I'm feeding her about two bottles a day of the frozen stuff without problems. Fingers crossed that she keeps taking it!
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