how do you know breastmilk is spoiled?

[ChocolateC]

How do you know if your stored breastmilk is spoiled?? I pumped like a maniac a few months ago thinking I'll keep giving LO my milk once she's a toddler, and now I've defrosted several bags of milk and think it's all spoiled! It doesn't really smell bad, but when I taste a drop of it it's SO GROSS. It doesn't taste at all like normal milk but I don't know if I ever tasted my own breastmilk.
Could ALL my frozen milk be spoiled??? There have been a couple of times in the past month when the freezer door was left cracked open (not by me!) and a bunch of frost caked over everything BUT nothing defrosted in there. Maybe that spoiled my milk? Or maybe it's just been in there too long (since late summer)?

 

[Rhiannon137]

If it's stayed frozen it should be fine. Apparently it's common for frozen milk to develop an odd taste. I've heard it described as slightly soapy, but most babies don't mind. Mine doesn't.

 

[ChocolateC]

Thanks--it DOES taste soapy! Really soapy. I personally find it disgusting and am wondering if I should feed it to LO or not. Maybe I'll try one spoonful with cereal and see if she freaks out.

 

[Emmy0320]

Trust me you will know if it's bad. It will smell like sour spit up. If it smells fine and you know it was properly stored you should be good to go!

 

[Missyann]

If your milk has a soapy taste, you can scald it right after expressing before you freeze it and the taste is fine when you thaw it out to use.

 

[SarahBear]

Thanks--it DOES taste soapy! Really soapy. I personally find it disgusting and am wondering if I should feed it to LO or not. Maybe I'll try one spoonful with cereal and see if she freaks out.

Ah, I remember reading about this. Some women have excessive lipase in their milk. That's what gives it that taste. I don't know if I was doing something wrong, but I tried freezing and defrosting breast milk and it tasted horrible. I stopped freezing it at that point. It didn't taste soapy though. For Violet, I just stayed a day ahead on my pumping. I'd pump one day and she'd get it while I was at work the next day. Plan to do something similar for the next one when I go back to work.

 

[SarahBear]

If your milk has a soapy taste, you can scald it right after expressing before you freeze it and the taste is fine when you thaw it out to use.

Scalding does change the nutrient content of the milk though. Just another factor to consider.

 

[RaspberryK]

I had this issue the excess lipase starts breaking down the milk a lot quicker than it would normally so it does go funny particularly when frozen. Mine would only ever be ok on the same day as I expressed and would taste soapy and start smelling sour after that.
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