Pumping and Freezing - Little one doesn't like taste

[Meggyfunk]

Hi,

I seem to have a bazillion breastfeeding questions, this is my second post of the morning...

I've noticed that my little one will fuss and/or refuse my expressed milk that has been frozen sometimes. If he refuses, usually picking a new frozen breast milk baggie with a later date (fresher) seems to work out okay. My oldest frozen milk is only 2 months old. I've taste tested the milk he's refusing and it doesn't taste as sweet to me. When I pump, I use the breast milk freezer bags, ensure all air is out and promptly place them in the freezer. They have their own designated space away from all food. I've been reading a little bit about lipids and wondering if this may be the cause. Any guidance or help would be greatly appreciated. It's really disheartening dumping milk down the drain. 

[Skadiver13]

Sounds like it could be Lipase to me. But if he'll take a different day it might not be.  Don't dump it down the drain though, not sure how old your LO is but if getting solids you can mix in to oatmeal or eggs etc. You can also scald it.
To scald milk:

Heat milk to about 180 F (82 C), or until you see little bubbles around the edge of the pan (not to a full, rolling boil).
Quickly cool and store the milk.

Check out this link: http://kellymom.com/bf/pumpingmoms/milkstorage/lipase-expressedmilk/

[creations]

Hi there
I know your LO is another month off from solids - if you haven't put it all in the bottle (ie milk he has not touched although you know it's a bag he is refusing, maybe a small amount to taste test first??) you could cook with it and then freeze the cooked food in readiness for starting solids.  I'm thinking sugar free milk pudding squares/fingers, sugar free custard, white/cheese sauces you could stir through pasta.  You can use it in any cooking/baking - sugar free mini pancakes are a finger food favourite and can be frozen interwoven with baking parchment so that they don't stick together and you can lift out one or two at a time to defrost, or a batch of sugar free mini muffins perhaps.  Although don't use up all your freezer space!

Maybe the other thing you could do is to offer the fresher milk for now and leave the slightly older milk until you start solids and use in cooking?
Looks like the scalding before freezing is a good practical solution to avoid this problem over the coming months.

[Katet]

My DS1 was like that - DH had to call me back from a shopping trip with my Step DD, because DS1 wouldn't take the bottle & it was only later we realised it was  the frozen milk. What I worked out with DS1 was that once DS1 went through a Growth Spurt previous milk was not acceptable for him... may have been lipase, but found I really had to work on only having milk less than 2-3 weeks old in the Freezer

[Meggyfunk]

Thank you all so much for these great ideas! He will be 5 months old next week.

KateT: That is interesting regarding the growth spurts, we are kind of in the same boat on about 3 weeks out he will accept from the freezer. Did you try the boiling technique before freezing? I'm going to give it a try!

[zissi]

I always thought that my frozen milk tasted and smelled odd, like plastic or something. my LG didn't seem to mind though, but I read somewhere to add a drop of vanilla essence to give it a slightly different flavour. maybe you could try this? or using it in food sounds like a great idea too.

[Katet]

Did you try the boiling technique before freezing? I'm going to give it a try!

No I didn't because TBH I could pump enough for what I needed & if I needed it say for a day out I'd just pump some over the 2 days before & stopped storing it in the Freezer.

[Meggyfunk]

Thanks, everyone!