Hi Ladies,
My husband, MIL, and myself have tried to give my son frozen breast milk over the last month and he won't drink it. We tried mixing his cereal with it, he still won't drink it. I've even conducted a little experiment; I had a bottle of pumped milk and a bottle of thawed out milk. I gave John the thawed out milk first and he absolutely refused to drink it; I gave him the freshly pumped milk, and he drank it down. He had colic when he was younger but he outgrew it. Any ideas on why this could be happening? I'm still breast feeding, but as we are starting solids, my milk supply has slowed down so I'm trying to supplement.
Hi Gina -
I had the same problem with my baby this past year. To keep my supply up, I would pump in the evening before bed and then use that milk the next day to mix with her baby cereal. Hope this helps!
This may sound strange to some, but I was wondering if my milk tasted the same after being thawed when I was BF my first. So I tried it. It tasted like plastic! ugh! I was using plastic bags to store my milk in the freezer and I bet some of the plastic leached into the milk.
Try putting your fresh milk in a glass container and see if that helps at all :)
some women have a fat to protein ration in their milk that alters the taste significantly when the lipids have been frozen. they report the milk smells 'funny' when thawed after freezing - 'soapy' is the most frequent description used. babies will usually refuse frozen milk from moms experiencing this issue. if you must freeze milk and use it, bringing it to the scalding point eliminates the excessive lipids and the smell vanishes and baby will drink it. however, this can inactivate many of the live and beneficial components in your milk - and you must be very careful not to boil it. the best solution is to keep it refrigerated only - optimum fridge time is 6 days. room temp human (freshly pumped) milk is fine for 8 hrs. it is teeming w/ antibacterial properties,white blood cells, macrophages, so any invading bacteria will actually cause the live milk to produce even more antibacterial properties against it and it will be even better for baby. it is difficult for human milk to 'spoil' or 'go bad' - most of the time when moms think this is what's happening, it's this lipid imbalance brought on by freezing or longer than recommended refrigerating. hope this helps and if you feel your supply is diminishing, the more you nurse your baby, the more it will build right back up ! solids should just be for fun right now, totally not necessary or even beneficial.
This may sound strange, but have you tried smelling the thawed milk? I had a problem where the fat in the milk broke down really quickly (it's due to an abundance of something, but I can't remember what...) which made the milk taste and smell nasty. I solved the problem by scalding the milk right after I pumped it. You basically bring it to almost a boil and then turn the heat off.
My daughter didn't like mine either. My husband tasted it and it tasted awful. I know that it can absorb the taste of whatever else is in the freezer, but that didn't seem to be the reason. I just could never freeze mine and have my baby drink it. It does keep in the fridge for a while though. Even room temperature for 24 hours.
Interesting.. my little guy could care less..
Can you just pump a little daily and keep it in the fridge? If you put it in the back of the fridge it will last longer.. up to 8 days.
have you tried mixing them?
I think frozen thawed breast milk smells funny... bet it tastes funny too.
my kids drank frozen thawed milk- but I bet it does taste different..
you can keep fresh milk in the refrigerator for 5-7 days...
I guess your baby doesnt like frozen milk!!
A friend of mine had breast milk that spoiled really easily. Perhaps you have the same situation? Have you tried mixing 75% fresh and 25% thawed frozen milk and gradually increasing the ratio of frozen to fresh to get the baby used to the taste of frozen?
My son refused to drink expressed milk, frozen or straight from the pump. He would happily switch between breastfeeding and bottle of formula when I was working or away. I just made sure to pump anyway and put him on a lot to keep up the supply over the weekends.
Hi Gina,
A friend of mine had this same dilemma. There is no reason why the frozen breast milk should be any different, but my friend was forced to throw away A LOT of frozen breast milk (actually, she had her husband do it! too painful to watch all those hours thrown away). In any case, I also had a slump in my breastmilk at the six month mark with my kids, and I drank Gatorade to get me past it. In a couple of weeks I was back on track! Hope this works for you, too.
Hi Gina
I was wondering if he missed you, the smell of you the comfort you give w/ nursing. Maybe that and the difference in frozen milk. Maybe if you sleep with one of his blankets, it will get your smell. And a bottle of fresh milk. :) A. H
Milk changes flavour over time, and can become freezer burnt, too... it is possible that you have intuitively changed your diet away from what was upsetting his tummy, so now it doesn't taste like it did when your son was colicky... You could taste it and see if you can perceive a difference.
I understand the resistance to dumping the precious breastmilk... but you can use it for other things. Well, other things apart from an ingredient <Grin>...
Milk baths are quite delightfully soothing, even human milk baths. It makes a nice skin conditioner. It's WONDERFUL for chicken pox, in case that comes up in the next few months. You can just add a frozen lump of it to the running water...
If you'd like to increase your supply, it is nothing more than a matter of increasing the frequency (not the duration) of feedings. The more often your little guy latches on, the more milk you'll make. Simple as that.
Freezing breastmilk can changet the taste of the milk. It is obvious your son just doesn't like it. I would just pump in between feedings each day and keep a supply in the fridge. You can keep breastmilk in the fridge for a few days .... I can't remember exactly how many though. However, I'm sure if you look online la leche league has some recommendations.
Also, remember, solids should just be a compliment to breastmilk at this point. Baby should still be getting the majority of their calories from milk until age 12 months.
Does it smell or taste bad or funny? you could have excess lipase. That seems to be my problem. She will drink from the breast, but stored milk is a no no.
I got around the same problem by mixing thawed milk with fresh milk. I used 2 ounces of fresh milk for every ounce of frozen milk and my little guy didn't really have any problems drinking it then.
