# What does your refrigerated breastmilk look like???



## wanderinggypsy (Jul 26, 2005)

OK this probably may sound weird. But oh well, here goes.
I'm nursing my third baby. Although I breastfed my first two for about three years each, I have NEVER until now pumped. My current baby has some health problems, and at times has required sedation, and been unable to eat for a few hours at a time, and so I bought a breastpump to use on those kind of occasions more to relieve engorgement than to save milk (as my baby has never been offered a bottle). So anyways, fast forward to today. Baby has been refusing my right breast all day, leading to one big swollen right breast. I thought 'aha, i'll pump'. And so I did. And for the first time, I thought I'd actually not dump the milk, but save it and maybe for sh*ts and giggles, offer some to her via bottle later on. So then I go to look at the milk in the fridge a couple hours later and low and behold it has chunkiness sticking to the sides of the bottle. No kidding, it looks like fat to me. Makes sense. But I had never given any thought to that and this is my first time looking at refrigerated breastmilk, so:

Is this what it is supposed to look like??? Kind of like the fat is separating? SO then if I warm it up and give it a little shake or stir will the fat re-integrate?

Thanks!


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## Mrs-Mama (Jul 2, 2007)

Normal! With my milk, the "cream" would rise to the top and the rest would settle down to the bottom. When you warm it, give it a swirl to mix it back up. Vigorous shaking damages the live cells in it.


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## TwinMommy429 (Jun 5, 2006)

Totally normal.


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## MilkTrance (Jul 21, 2007)

Mine looks like that, too. It's just the fat. No worries!


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## mighty-mama (Sep 27, 2005)

I haven't pumped w/ this babe yet, but with my first.. The cream always rose to the top, and the foremilk was a clearish/white. And yes there would be almost like curds of milk that stuck to the bottle...

***Oh and if I ate a lot of green veggies the night before, it would be tinted green


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## miche28 (Sep 16, 2006)

Total normal - sometimes it rises, sometimes it clumps and looks sour. Cow's milk would do the same thing, but we homogenize it. In fact, funny local thing, most Canadians call "whole milk" "**** milk". I did not know that this was not a commonly used term in the US - but the waitress' face clued me in.

M.


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## bright-midnight (Mar 26, 2007)

mine looks like that too and it's totally normal


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## wanderinggypsy (Jul 26, 2005)

Thanks guys! (and lol at the **** milk thing... i am Canadian too and had never considered how bizarre that might sound to an outsider!!!!!)


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