# boiling breastmilk?



## barefoot mama (Apr 30, 2006)

My sister has an interesting situation as far as bf goes. I won't go into all of it. But she called this morning and left a message telling me that a LC told her to pump her milk and boil it before feeding it to her baby ( 7 weeks old). I have never heard of this and can't find info anywhere. I'm not sure. It sounds like it could be bad. Has anyone heard of this?


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## earthmama369 (Jul 29, 2005)

I've never heard of boiling breastmilk. It doesn't seem like it could be good since you're not supposed to heat bm in the microwave because it destroys a lot of the nutrients!


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## guestmama9916 (Jun 24, 2006)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *barefoot mama*
My sister has an interesting situation as far as bf goes. I won't go into all of it. But she called this morning and left a message telling me that a LC told her to pump her milk and boil it before feeding it to her baby ( 7 weeks old). I have never heard of this and can't find info anywhere. I'm not sure. It sounds like it could be bad. Has anyone heard of this?

How long is she supposed to give the boiled the BM to baby? Baby cows that are fed pasteurized cow's milk usually get sick and fail to thrive. I would be concerned if this was going to be a long term situation and the baby was not going to receive any supplementing. Boiling cow's milk, aka pasteurizing, kills the enzymes, antibodies and the vitamins. I normally do not post on this board since I'm not currently BF'ing but I've been doing alot of research on cow's milk recently so when I saw the title of this thread it sparked my interest. I would definitely question the LC's advice and ask if this is a long term deal. Ask a trusted pediatrician to be on the safe side. HTH

Kim


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## awinkler (Jul 26, 2005)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *barefoot mama*
My sister has an interesting situation as far as bf goes. I won't go into all of it. But she called this morning and left a message telling me that a LC told her to pump her milk and boil it before feeding it to her baby ( 7 weeks old). I have never heard of this and can't find info anywhere. I'm not sure. It sounds like it could be bad. Has anyone heard of this?

Never heard of that, and like others, have actually heard that you don't want to boil breastmilk!


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## TurboClaudia (Nov 18, 2003)

sounds like the LC might think her milk has a high lipase content... http://www.kellymom.com/bf/pumping/l...essedmilk.html

does that sound familiar?

~claudia


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## barefoot mama (Apr 30, 2006)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *TurboClaudia*
sounds like the LC might think her milk has a high lipase content... http://www.kellymom.com/bf/pumping/l...essedmilk.html

does that sound familiar?

~claudia

No, she's actually trying to kill a virus. This is interesting, though, I have never heard of high lipase content as a problem.


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## barefoot mama (Apr 30, 2006)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *kimbernet*
How long is she supposed to give the boiled the BM to baby? Baby cows that are fed pasteurized cow's milk usually get sick and fail to thrive. I would be concerned if this was going to be a long term situation and the baby was not going to receive any supplementing. Boiling cow's milk, aka pasteurizing, kills the enzymes, antibodies and the vitamins. I normally do not post on this board since I'm not currently BF'ing but I've been doing alot of research on cow's milk recently so when I saw the title of this thread it sparked my interest. I would definitely question the LC's advice and ask if this is a long term deal. Ask a trusted pediatrician to be on the safe side. HTH

Kim

This is what I was afraid of. Her baby becoming sick eating boiled breastmilk, followed by failure to thrive







. She didn't mention how long she was told to do it.


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## earthmama369 (Jul 29, 2005)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *barefoot mama*
No, she's actually trying to kill a virus. This is interesting, though, I have never heard of high lipase content as a problem.

But . . . but . . . breastmilk contains antibodies to whatever virus is in her body or her baby's body!







: Boiling her breastmilk could destroy the very protection she's giving her baby against illness!


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## barefoot mama (Apr 30, 2006)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *earthmama369*
But . . . but . . . breastmilk contains antibodies to whatever virus is in her body or her baby's body!







: Boiling her breastmilk could destroy the very protection she's giving her baby against illness!

I know! I'm not impressed with the LC!!







:


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## Benji'sMom (Sep 14, 2004)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *earthmama369*
But . . . but . . . breastmilk contains antibodies to whatever virus is in her body or her baby's body!







: Boiling her breastmilk could destroy the very protection she's giving her baby against illness!

Exactly! The breastmilk won't make her baby sick, it will help the baby fight the virus (and I'm the baby must have already come into contact with the germs from being near the mom, anyway, so trying to "sanitize" the milk is pretty pointless anyway).


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## eirual (Mar 21, 2006)

I'm with the last few posters on this one- I've scalded my milk before storing since I'm fairly certain I have high lipase levels, but to boil to kill a virus makes no sense. Although- if it were something like HIV, that can be transmitted VIA BM, so maybe there are others that can too??

I would definitely try to find out how long it was suggested she do this...boiling obviously kills everything good as it kills anything harmful and I'd be quite concerned if the babe was getting solely boiled milk for any length of time.


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## alegna (Jan 14, 2003)

Time to find a real IBCLC.

-Angela


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