# How to be sure refrigerated breast milk is good?



## Say (Feb 19, 2009)

I feel like this question must have been asked before, so I apologize if I've missed the thread somewhere!

I have a 7 week old daughter and have been exclusively breastfeeding her since birth. Two weeks ago I started pumping so that I could get out here and there and leave my husband with a bottle. I carefully label everything, keep the bags at the back of the fridge, use it all by seven days (I've read up to 8 is good), but I still worry that the milk isn't 'good' if it's more than four days old. It often smells odd to me - someone mentioned the plastic bags can cause that. I've tasted it, and it's always sweet (which I know is normal), but doesn't always taste 'right' - somewhere in between metallic and bitter.

I just don't know if I'm being overly paranoid or not. I've searched online for what 'milk' should taste and smell like, but I can't find anything.

Any help?


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## ChetMC (Aug 27, 2005)

If your baby drinks it, I wouldn't worry about it. Breastmilk has amazing properties to resist bacterial growth. The milk is certainly safe to consume after 7 or 8 days stored at the back of the fridge.

Now, cooling, storing, freezing, the type of container, etc, can all effect the taste of the milk, but if your baby will drink it, I don't think it's an issue. My understanding is that even milk that's high in lipase and tastes HORRIBLE is still safe.

DH once fed DD a bottle of milk that had been in the fridge for somewhere between six weeks and two months. I have no clue how he missed the fresh milk in clear view and found a long forgotten bottle that had been knocked over and stuck under other stuff, but whatever.

DH said that the milk looked completely fine. DD didn't drink as much as she usually would have, but she had no reaction at all. DH said that the milk smelled a bit weird when he opened the bottle after DD was finished, but nothing nasty. I'm not saying that it's okay to give milk that's been in the fridge for two months, but it gives me a lot of confidence in breast milk's ability to resist mold and bacteria. I've dumped cartons of two month old pasteurized cow milk down the sink, and it definitely doesn't hold up so well.


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## Say (Feb 19, 2009)

Thank you!

I'm hoping it's not excessive lipase (which I had never heard of before yesterday). I'm going to go with the 'if she drinks it' test.


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## Baby_Cakes (Jan 14, 2008)

I worry about this too! I tasted some thawed milk and was blown away by how metallic and bitter it tasted. It made me shiver that's how bad it tasted. I chucked it, figuring it was sour. I then tasted freshly pumped milk the next day, and didn't notice the same aftertaste, but there was a hint of it in there. Then I tasted refrigerated milk (about 2 days old) and it was somewhere in between.

I have NO IDEA how to tell if the funky metallic taste is bad for her or just bad tasting.


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## Say (Feb 19, 2009)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Baby_Cakes* 
I worry about this too! I tasted some thawed milk and was blown away by how metallic and bitter it tasted. It made me shiver that's how bad it tasted. I chucked it, figuring it was sour. I then tasted freshly pumped milk the next day, and didn't notice the same aftertaste, but there was a hint of it in there. Then I tasted refrigerated milk (about 2 days old) and it was somewhere in between.

I have NO IDEA how to tell if the funky metallic taste is bad for her or just bad tasting.

You sound just like me! As far as I can tell, the milk doesn't smell sour, just kind of bitter - it smells like throw up honestly. But it tastes more sweet than bitter. I've also noticed (this will make me sound so strange) that my daughters breath has the same odour as the milk I'm worrying about, even when she's just come off my breast. Maybe I'm just obsessing???

I froze some milk earlier this week and thawed it overnight, figuring that if I truly produce too much lipase (I keep reading that cold activates the enzymes), it would be bad, and it was fine. So I just don't know.


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## Leisha (Jan 16, 2008)

I've been throwing out quite a lot of breastmilk because it smelt bad/sour (like vomit - yuckk). Always after one or max. two days in the fridge or after being defrosted (frozen for a week or so max)...

I now wonder if I've been throwing out perfectly good stuff...










Doesn't really matter though, cause dd won't drink from a bottle anyway...







lol


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