Can lipase develop anytime?

[@llli*juliasmomma]

I warmed up some milk earlier today that was pumped 5 days ago (1-9-12) to mix with DD's oatmeal. I tested the oatmeal to make sure it wasn't too hot & it tasted off. DH agreed so I tried a tiny taste of the milk that was left in the bag & it was definitely sour. Wouldn't say soapy necessarily, but it was gross - definitely sour. I almost threw up. I've read about lipase but have never had trouble with this before & I've reheated milk that is up to a week old (refrigerated). DD always takes her bottles willingly. So my question is - can lipase just develop randomly or is it something I would have had all along? I have been building quite a stash in my fridge/freezer so it would totally be a bummer if it was all bad. Or maybe it was just that one bag that went bad for some reason? Usually when I pump at work I let the bottle sit til the next session (to avoid adding warm to cold) if it isn't full, so maybe it went bad then? It's only 3 hrs at most. I'm kinda freaking out here - not sure I can deal w/scalding all my milk!

Please help!

[@llli*aprilsmagic]

I had that happen. I had a whole freezer stash that was fine, I donated it to a mama in need and started pumping more. Like 6 weeks later, she told me my milk was starting to taste funny after just a day. After 24 hours, it was terrible. So, yes, I think, sometimes, for some reason, we can have excess lipase, or suddenly it is more easily activated, or something.

Also, it could be due to something about your bottles, or even your dish soap. I found when I store the milk in glass bottles and wash with plain old blue Dawn, I can get a little over 24 hours before it gets nasty.

In your case --

Check your freezer stash. Thaw some of the oldest milk and see if your LO will drink it. If so, no worries.
Start refrigerating small amounts and check them. You may be able to store milk for a day, 2 days, etc, and you can find your limit.
Be very,very sure that if you are going to keep milk in the fridge that long you collect it in as clean a fashion as possible. I try to not abuse the milk I pump if I am planning to keep it for >24 hours to preserve its flavor, in that I refrigerate it as soon as possible and use clean bottles and pump parts. The milk I feed that day...maybe not so much.

Things we eat can affect the taste. I realized I was taking a fatty acid supplement that affected the taste a great deal.mi stopped taking it, and the problem got a lot better. It is possible this is what happened to you.

If baby will take it, don't sweat it.

[@llli*juliasmomma]

Thank you so much for the reply! I tasted some of my other bags that were in the fridge and they almost all had a hint of the bad flavor. I pitched them, didn't realize that weren't bad for DD if she'd take them. Oh well. I don't feel quite right giving her milk that I know is bad, even if she doesn't mind...she drank a bottle from the following day (DH tried a few drops of this one & thought it was ok) w/o a problem but when I tested another batch from that same day it tasted like it was on its way to going sour. So IDK. It's been a stressful week/weekend even without this...feels like this is more than I can deal with today

Usually when I pump I clean the parts afterward - either rinse & steam bag or I use the Medela quick clean wipes. This week I was using the wipes more, so maybe that had something to do with the taste. Then at night I wash them w/soap & water. The IBCLC that I saw said I didn't even need to clean them every time, I could just refrigerate, so I thought I was doing pretty well just by cleaning them after each session. She also told me it was ok to let the milk sit out between sessions if I wanted to add more to the bottle (better than adding warm to cold). I suppose both of these are true if you don't have lipase, which I'm now pretty sure I do. But DD has been drinking bottles of EBM for weeks & I've been doing it this way. I've also tasted little bits here & there w/her cereal & never noticed any off taste. So maybe my frozen stash is ok if this just started? Can't think of much in my diet that has changed, though I have been eating more cinnamon cereal & almond milk (DD has a dairy sensitivity). But no extra flax or DHA that I can think of.

I found the thread from a few years ago on lipase & there are some helpful suggestions there. Just hoping I can save enough of my fresh stash to get her through Monday while I'm at work. No time to scald today due to family commitments that had us away from home, but I plan to try it tomorrow...

Thank you again for your support & advice!

[@llli*aprilsmagic]

It's not bad, like make you sick bad. It just has a bad flavor. Don't toss any more

I am not convinced this is a lipase problem. And I'm going to tell you what I told a couple local mamas...stop tasting before feeding. Just do what you usually do, and just feed the baby. It won't hurt the baby. Don't scald until you know how long your milk will last. If your milk can be in the fridge 24 hours, then the only milk you need to scald is Friday's milk...scalding kills stuff in it, so don't do it unless your baby stops drinking your pumped milk.

[@llli*aprilsmagic]

LLLMeg posted a very good comment on your thread in the upper forum, which supports what I'm thinking...this may not be a lipase problem. This could be a random weird thing.

[@llli*juliasmomma]

Thank you! I did see her reply & it was helpful. I noticed the taste in the other milk that i pumped last week...the older the milk, the worse the taste. Wouldn't that be lipase? Seemed like what I had pumped Friday night was still *ok* yesterday (Sunday)...slight off taste but definitely tolerable. So we scalded everything that was still good, just to be safe. We'll see if DD drinks it today or not. I'm thinking that I'll have at least 24 hrs or so before it turns so I should be able to send today's milk to d/c for her tomorrow. But I should scald anything I plan to freeze, right? If I want to preserve the taste? I plan to feed her as fresh as possible, but right now I pump more than she needs so I'd like to keep freezing/storing.

Also some questions about scalding - how long should I let the bottles cool before putting them back in the fridge (or freezer)? Last night we did 4 bottles in a steamer pot (boiling water underneath & steamer basket w/bottles above it), heated them to 180 & then put them in another pot w/ice & cold water. Once they got under 80 degrees we put the caps on & put them back in the fridge. It took maybe 5-10 min for them to cool. Is that the right way to do it? I read that you can do other temps, like 160 for 15 secs, etc., but we did 180 b/c that seemed like the "standard" from what I read. I plan to experiment a little w/varying temps, freezing, etc., but I need to wait til I have some extra to experiment with. I know you're not supposed to reheat & re-refrigerate milk, so I want to make sure we don't ruin it!

Again, thank you for the replies/support!

[@llli*aprilsmagic]

IME, breastmilk is strong tasting anyway. Unless it leaves an aftertaste like vomit, I wouldn't scald.

I did the 165/15 scald myself when I was scalding.

Freezer...it depends. If you thawed milk, like a bag from each week you have stored, and it tasted terrible after a certain point, I would scald. If it didn't, I wouldn't worry about it. it might have been a flukey thing.