problems with frozen breastmilk?

[Vanilla_girl]

I've been excllusively pumping since my little one was born (3.5 months old). I have a freezer full of milk that I'm starting to rotate in so the oldest gets used up before it goes bad.

I'm using one bottle a day (~6 oz) of milk from late september, I started this on tuesday thsi week.

since then, LO has been gassy, spitting up more than usual, gets hiccups, green poo. Each bottle is from a different day in late september, so I don't think it's anything special I ate "that day". I"m just grabbing whatever bag is on top of the whole big ziploc bag I have labeled 'sept - 1"

what could be going on? Is all my milk bad? I probably have close to 4000 oz in thre freezer right now, hoping to use it to get him to a year of breastmilk. I would be devastated to throw it all away, but if I have to, I would rather do it now and plan to pump for much longer.

He's gotton frozen breastmilk at daycare before when he needs a top-up, but that's milk that is more current (I give her milk to freeze, then if he drains all his bottles, she has back-up, which she has done 4 times now)

(ps - It's in a deep freezer)

any suggestions?

 

[wishingonastar]

I'd suggest trying fresh, then trying defrosted...I'm no pro on expressed milk and the reason for this is I pumped and froze loads then when my eldest refused expressed milk I tried it to be sure it was ok and it tasted off! My fresh milk was quite sweet and whilst not my preferred drink was bearable, whereas my defrosted milk had an off taste for sure! Some womens milk goes off when stored and I think I'm one of them!!!

Hope yours is fine and its a fixable problem if there is a problem (also you may wanna post this in BFing section for more replies)

 

[SugarFairy]

My frozen milk tastes wierd. I've actually been considering just dumping it all. It was meant for when I go back to work but if its bad I'd rather he not have it and I just sub in formula instead. I wonder why it goes bad? Sorry I haven't answered your question x

 

[ahcigar1]

I thought in the freezer it only lasted up to 3 months. If you are pulling from September then it is old, which may be why your LO is having the issues. I would try ones that are closer in time.

 

[Vanilla_girl]

I was wondering if it was bad, but I tried a bottle about two month ago and he was fine. Plus like I said my babysitter has given him a few bottles of fresher frozen (does that make sense?) milk with no problem.
He drinks it fine also. Maybe I should try to give him a few from October to see if that causes problems.

 

[Vanilla_girl]

I was told 6months in deep freeze, maybe I should toss all sept and start with oct then. He's only 3.5 months old so it's only it older tan that lol

 

[ahcigar1]

I was wondering if it was bad, but I tried a bottle about two month ago and he was fine. Plus like I said my babysitter has given him a few bottles of fresher frozen (does that make sense?) milk with no problem.
He drinks it fine also. Maybe I should try to give him a few from October to see if that causes problems.

Sounds like that is your answer then. The September must be bad. I would just go with a bit fresher frozen ones.

 

[wishingonastar]

Check the kellymom website and it gives full info on expressing and storing with FAQs and problem solving

In answer to why some womens milk goes off...it has too much of something in it which makes it bad for storing (can't remember what it is bit it tells you full info about this on kellymom)

 

[Ew68j5]

Some women have too much lactase is the milk (I'm one of them) which gives milk a soapy or metallic taste when stored. It's not bad bit just tastes different so often the lo will refuse It. I had a big stockpile when I discovered this which was useless for my daughter as she wouldn't take it. I donate my stored milk now as its still perfectly safe, just not up to my fussy baby's standards!

 

[midori1999]

What the above poster said about the milk that tastes off not actually being off, it's lactase enzyme. You can still give it to your baby.

Milk can be stored in a deep freeze for 6 months. Unless your freezer is too warm, it should be fine. It could be making your LO gassy/green poop as it has a foremilk/hindmilk imbalance (not that hard to get with expressed milk) or maybe because you expressed it some time ago and it doesn't suit your Lo now, although I haven't heard of that being a possibility. (your milk changes as your LO gets older) I have noticed though that milk I expressed and froze a few months ago is much more watery looking and more watery tasting than the milk I express now, which seems fattier. (more of a fat layer on top if I express then leave in the fridge now)

 

[ArcaneSpark]

I read that you should avoid giving your baby milk older than 1 month as the "ingredients" of the milk change according to what your baby needs for that time in his life? Think it was the baby whisperer breastfeeding book.