How do I know when the milk is dried up?

[christess]

She (2.5) cluster nurses at night. recently it has become very painful whenever she nurses. I was wondering if the milk has dried up and here attempts to get satisfied is a waste of time.

[StillSingingMom]

Lots of things could be going on there.

Your little one could have a cold, a sore throat, an ear infection. Sometimes those things change a nursling's latch, which can be painful.

If you haven't been menstruating regularly, you could be heading for a period, which would lower supply; some nurslings respond with a vacuum-like suction, in an attempt to extract more milk.

Or, if you were pregnant, you could be drying up.

If the latch is slipping, you can fix that. If you are drying up, your nursling will most likely figure out that nursing is not going to provide milk. But in general, women don't just dry up as long as they continue to nurse. There would be a reason for that, most likely.

[Kotahsmom]

The milk I have recently pumped and refrigerated is starting to go sour. It smell horrible and the baby refuses it. I pump it, store it in the back of the fridge, and use it within 36hours but as soon as it is warm it goes bad! Anyone have any idea why it is doing bad!?

[crystal555rose]

The milk I have recently pumped and refrigerated is starting to go sour. It smell horrible and the baby refuses it. I pump it, store it in the back of the fridge, and use it within 36hours but as soon as it is warm it goes bad! Anyone have any idea why it is doing bad!?


I noticed as my son got older my milk would spoil more quickly than in the beginning. I could only speculate that this was due to less antibacterial properties being there.

Sterilize you pump parts. I used microsteam bags by Medela. If it is going bad this is due to bacteria which can be quite persistant and resistant to even the most thorough cleaning. Lethal levels of heat are required (boiling water or better, this is why I liked the steam bags. Steam is hotter than boiling water.)

Good luck!

[MysticMagic]

The milk I have recently pumped and refrigerated is starting to go sour. It smell horrible and the baby refuses it. I pump it, store it in the back of the fridge, and use it within 36hours but as soon as it is warm it goes bad! Anyone have any idea why it is doing bad!?

I know I'm a bit late on this but thought I'd mention that this could be an increase of lipase in your milk.

To understand this issue you first need to understand what Lipase is.

Lipase is an enzyme in our bodies and in milk which helps the body/baby break down fats. Everyone has it, however it is possible to produce too much which results in what many people describe as "spoiled milk". This enzyme is not meant to be activated until it hits the gut, however when you produce too much, it starts "digesting" the fats early.

Most people never know they have a problem, as they either never pump or their babies accept their milk without problem. However, there is a small number of people who's babies will reject it.

The most important thing to realise is that it is NOT a problem. It's perfectly fine to feed to a baby. The ONLY time it becomes a problem is if your baby is rejecting it. Maya unfortunately was one of those babies who did reject it.

It is ONLY an issue with pumped milk. It doesn't necessarily only affect frozen milk, but any milk that has been pumped.

The level of the issue varies from person to person. There is one mother here who's milk "turns" after a day or two in the fridge. My own starts to "turn" within the first hour after being pumped as you will see below.

Milk which does have excess lipase is identified by a "soapy" smell and a bitter aftertaste in the milk. Milk is meant to be sweet...

I have a very bad case of excessive Lipase :( I ran some tests when Maya was little to confirm...

I pumped 6oz - I then scalded 3oz and left 3oz as normal. I immediately froze 1oz of each.

I then left one of each out on the work counter, and put one of each in the fridge.

I then tasted/smelled the two non frozen versions every hour for 12 hours and defrosted the frozen samples after 1 week.

These were my findings...

1 hour
Non Scalded: Smelled fine, had already develped a slight aftertaste.
Scalded: Smelled and tasted fine.

5 hours
Non Scalded: Smelled fine, pretty nasty aftertaste.
Scalded: Smelled and tasted fine.

7 hours
Non Scalded: Smelled slightly soapy, taste made me gag
Scalded: Smelled and tasted fine.

Interestingly, even though I'd never feed it to my child, the scalded version smelled and tasted fresh 24 hours later too!

Frozen Samples
Non Scalded: Stank and made me gag
Scalded: Smelled and tasted fresh!

What I learned from this experiment:

1) Freezing immediately makes NO DIFFERENCE the enzyme is still active during its frozen state.
2) It made NO DIFFERENCE at all between the versions left out and the one in the fridge. Both samples reacted in the same way in the same time frame.
3) Scalding is the ONLY way I can feed my baby my expressed milk :(

I scald my milk in an avent bottle warmer. I fill the water quite full and leave it for 40 minutes (refilling water if needed). Not entirely sure what temperature this is, but it's very, very hot without boiling and works beautifully :)

Run your own tests and see what your little one will and will not take. I know of one mother who like you found she had a problem. Scalded her milk only to find her LO would take the unscalded, but wouldn't take the scalded - who knew lol

Plus scalding has disadvantages too. 1, it destroys some of the nutrients and if you're freezing it too, it's not the best thing (although still better than formula!), 2, it's a pain in the rear end to have to do it! My advice, if you don't have to.... DONT!

If you have any other questions, feel free to message me :)

Emma