My Breastmilk Smells Terrible... Normal??

Some of us have this problem w/refrigeration. Something about how the lipid / fat content changes when freezing and thawing. The la leche league website talks about this and suggests a method for boiling the milk first, but I haven't tried it. Mostly, I've just decided to use only briefly refrigerated milk, not frozen and thawed.

Could it be lipase? If so, it's pretty normal. My milk smells normal in the fridge, but smells funky when de-thawed-- a chemical sort of smell. My babies will drink it just fine but the odor is strange. The yellowy color sounds like fat, which tends to separate from the thinner milk, and remains in clumps even when the milk is slightly reheated.

There is a web site called kellymom that has a lot of great breastfeeding and milk pumping/storage advice. You can read up on milk storage and probably find more detailed information.

You are just fine. Breastmilk seperates and is mostly water so it can look chunky. Taste a little bit with your finger and it will reassure you that it is just fine. It will or should taste sweet. Keep up with the clean habits and put it in the coldest part of the fridge or freezer. Also your milk will turn different shades of color depending on what you eat. Yellow, blue, purple, pink white are all normal, kinda wierd huh? I always ask my daughter what color she wants, I always get a blank stare, she is only 3 months old.

Good Luck and happy tasting!

Hi C.,

My name is J. and I am a Lactation Consultant in Sacramento. 1st: Breastmilk (under normal circumstances) never goes bad in 12 hours or 24 hours in the fridge. That information is simply inaccurate. Breastmilk does separate with the fatty milk (hind milk) on top and the more watery (fore milk) on the bottom. Totally normal. Color is not an issue as breastmilk can be shades of many different colors (including green, orange, red, white, blueish...). Sometimes the fat does separate a bit and looks funny - breastmilk is not something we grow up looking at all the time so how would we know what it 'should' look like? :) The key issue here for me is the smell - it shouldn't smell rancid.

However, that being said, Jessica O has it right on the money - some moms have too much Lipase in their milk - we aren't quite sure why but are looking into it. When the milk has too much Lipase it is it starts breaking the milk down and it does start to smell rancid. Very frustrating. Some babies will take it others won't.

How to deal with this? Easy - Scald it. The trick is to figure out how much time you have before the lipase does it's <annoying> thing so that you can scald it. For some moms they have 24 hours - other's - only a couple. Check out the link that Jessica put on for you to kellymom. Great website.

Jessica - thanks for the great information! Not everyone knows about the lipase issue...glad you did!

If you have further questions you are welcome to e-mail me at ____@____.com any time. :)

Warmly,

J. Simpson, IBCLC, CIIM
www.breastfeedingnetwork.net

hey hun -
i don't remember the time frames to freeze/store breastmilk, etc, but i did want to comment on the separation and yellow color: separation occurs because when our highfat breastmilk cools, the fat separates and rises to the top - and as we know from butter, it's yellow!
i hope you get lots of responses to your request (i'm not feeling like much help!) - i do remember that breastmilk also smells a lot more pungent then how we're used to smelling milk (as in, cows milk, which is low in fat even when it's whole because it's "risen fat" - aka cream - has been taken off to make cream, half and half, and butter) -
XXOO
S.

Hi C., did you solve your problem with milk?
A. ###-###-####.

C., I had the same issue with my kids, although it never seemed to bother them. And I've heard it from two other friends, too. I'm glad to hear (from another poster) that the milk is still fine and nutritious.

C.,

According to Lansinoh Breastmilk Storage Bags the storage time for Breastmilk is as such:

Room Temp. 66-72 degrees F, 10 hours

In a fridge. 32-39 degrees F, 8 days

In a freezer compartment inside your fridge. Temp varies.. 2 weeks

In a freezer compertment with a seperate door. Temp Varies.. 3-4 months

In a seperate deep freeze 0 degrees F, 6 months or longer

My husband and I have a 6 foot deep freeze, and on its #4 setting it is 0 degrees, we keep it on its coldest setting which takes it well below 0 and have found that my milk stays good for a year..

The other women offered great advise for your other problems, good luck!! And happy breastfeeding!!

X.

You have a larger quantity of enzyme lipase in your milk. It can make milk taste sour/mettalic/smell bad. The milk is still good. You need to quickly scald the milk (little bubbles not full boil) and cool it before freezing then you won't have problems. You will loose some of the antibodies in the milk but not much- it's still good stuff!

Kellymom.com has more details and La Leche League's site also may have more directions.

-C.

I also agree with Jessica. I had the same problem, my milk looked yellow (fat) on top & blueish on bottom! Hey, Green Eggs & Ham started somewhere!! Anyway, my babies took it no problem, even though it smelled a little funky to me. I also had a short period of time where it was pink from a little bleeding. This also was not a problem. Keep going mom, you are doing a fine job! I have 5 girls, last were twins, and they are all fine. I'm thankful now to have more info regarding the lipase issue because that certainly makes a lot of sense. Thank you ladies for your diligence & caring to answers these issues!

Bless you & congrats on your baby.

D.

Thanks for asking this question. I have a freezer full of milk that I have to throw away. :(
It smells so bad and the baby won't drink it. I actually froze it within the hour of pumping. And of course now that milk production is getting harder for my body I don't have the milk I saved. Very frustrating. I'm wondering if there is a goat milk powder or anything else I can give him (8 months) instead of formula?
Good luck.
C.

I have a 2 mo. old that I am also breastfeeding and doing the pump and store thing as well. I am currently not working outside of the home, but I have breast milk in the fridge for my hubby to feed my son when I am out running errands or grocery shopping. I have some breastmilk I have started to freeze in the event we do a weekend away soon so my mom can feed him as well.

My question for you is, you mentioned you freeze within 12 hours of pumping...where is your milk in those 12 hours? Is it kept in the refrigerator? Pardon me if that is a dumb question. I just went and smelled my milk in the fridge and it doesn't smell bad at all. It is separated, and is kind of yellowish. I am thinking maybe there is something you're eating that has a strong scent, or possibly picking up a scent from something in your refrigerator? In any case, I either refrigerate or freeze my milk immediately after pumping. I know you are working so you are probably putting it in a cooler or something to keep it fresh. If your baby isn't getting sick from it, its probably nothing to worry about.

breest milk can go bad if it is over 24 hours in the frige I would recomend you freeze the milk right a way 12hours is a long time to wait. Even if you freeze in smaller containers you can use an ice tray if you did get very much milk . GOOD LUCK S.

What are YOU eating? When I eat dark green veggies my milk smells a little funny, not bad but just diff. Also it has a greenish tint to it if I have eaten a lot of green. If you have been eating a strong smelling food than it will come out into your milk. I would taste it, my milk has always tasted sweet. Try pumping, then drink a sip or two, freeze some put some into the fridge. Then let it sit a while and taste both the frozen and refrigerated and compare to how the fresh milk had tasted. I would guess that it is fine. But if it does taste funny try and see if your fridge and or freezer is cold enough. Good luck!

make sure you shake it before you give it to her. Not sure if you already do that so hope this info helps.

I had a very similar problem. My breastmilk would get this weird soapy smell after being in the fridge for more than a day, and all the milk that I froze and defrosted smelled the same way. Apparently, some women (including us) have a certain enzyme in their breatmilk that makes it almost impossible to store. What you need to do is scald the milk before you freeze it. This slows the process of that enzyme and makes it possible to freeze your milk. The yellow color is normal. If you have any questions, you can definitely google, "scald breastmilk" or something along those lines. Good Sam hospital in San Jose also has a lactation consultant on staff that can answer any of your questions. Just call 408-559-BABY. I hope this helps.

Freeze your breastmilk and it will last for months. You can freeze it in those playtex "bags" and your husband can warm it in the microwave but never warm it in the microwave in the plastic bags. Set the sealed bag in warm water and it will loosen from the sides. Then put the semi-frozen milk in a pyrex container to warm. Put ina bottle and it is as good as if it had come from you directly.

God Bless,
B.

Some women have extra lipase in their milk that can cause it to quickly break down and taste and smell off. It doesn't seem to be an issue unless the taste bothers the baby (the milk is still safe and nutritious).

http://www.kellymom.com/bf/pumping/lipase-expressedmilk.html

I think I had this issue (nothing like desperately trying to get a baby to accept a few ounces of precious pumped milk only to taste it myself and gag) and it pretty much put me off pumping (easy for me as a SAHM). I did experiment with scalding the milk and that seemed to fix the issue.

Agreed that it's high lipase. I have it as well. The milk is NOT bad, so if baby will drink it she can. I didn't toss mine and was able to mix small amounts of thawed, unscalded milk in with fresh milk (when I was back at work) and my daughter drank it that way. Some babies refuse it completely, and others don't mind it at all.

To prevent it, you have to scald the milk before freezing. For me I could wait a few hours to do it (with it in the fridge), but some mamas have to scald immediately after pumping to prevent the lipase from digesting the fat and producing the bad smell and taste.

You just put it into a clean pan and scald the milk, then cool (I put the pan in a bowl of ice water) and freeze as soon as it's cooled.

Mine would also stay good in the fridge if I needed to use it for the next day, but not longer than that.

Here is info on Kellymom on lipase: http://www.kellymom.com/bf/pumping/lipase-expressedmilk.html

C.:

The color is normal. From everything I've read, it's not "normal", though, to smell bad - I don't think breastmilk usually has an odor. However, it sounds like other posters have indicated it's not dangerous and not unheard of. I know one mother who had to scald all her milk when she froze it otherwise it would go bad as you have indicated (she had to throw out a whole freezer-full before she realized this was a problem!). Scalding solved the problem. I think someone already sent you a link to kellymoms website regarding scalding. That might also be a good source to confirm whether your conditions indicate a need for scalding or not. Or, like another poster suggested, taste it yourself! One thing I DO remember is that if the milk is bad, your baby will spit it back up. So - I'm thinking your baby is really your best indicator of whether it's bad or not (although, personally, I would still err on the side of caution and scald - but I haven't had these issues so all my info is second-hand). Best of luck to you!

I think I usual froze mine sooner but mine was always yellow and I always thought it smelled "rancid." In my breastfeeding support group it seemed to be the common feeling that it didn't smell good. I believe this is normal. Just make sure the frozen milk is not on the door (open and closing will make the temp inconsistant). Mine was also yellow and I believe that is the result of the higher fat content. The little "floatie" when it thaws out are also crystalized fat droplets. The one thing to watch for is if the milk in the fridge prior to freezing or the thawed milk has a soapy taste. Some kids don't care and it is NOT bad for them but many kids will then refuse the milk and this is the result of a high lipase level in your milk. Some women have this and it breaks down the fats in the milk. If you do have a soapy taste in your breastmilk you can look up Lipase on breastfeeding sites and you need to scald the milk briefly before freezing. Otherwise the smell and yellow color sounded pretty common with the mothers I talked with and for my entire 19mths of breastfeeding. The smell seemed stronger to me than to my husband.

why wait 12 hours?try freezing some absolutely fresh milk,perhaps it will be better,