Scalding breastmilk due to excessive Lipase

[Hopin' for another]

My biggest question right now has to do with DHA.

I did not have problems with lipase the first several months. My milk could sit in the fridge for a week and still be good. I took flax seed oil supplements during that time (and during my pregnancy.) However, I then found a vegetarian DHA supplement and started taking that. Son was 9 1/2 months at that time. Shortly after that I had no reason to give him stored milk as my work situation changed.

Based on a comment someone made here about flaxseed, I'm now wondering if the extra DHA could be the problem. I've stopped taking flax and DHA and will test my milk in a week. Since my son is old enough to take DHA supplements, I'm not worried about his needs. I figure it's better to store my milk without me taking supplements since at least the milk will last until it is given to another baby (either one we adopt or one someone else adopts.)

Has anyone else had experience with flax and/or DHA causing excess lipase and therefore foul milk?

[deanna75010]

Hi, this is a great thread. I've only just found it and thought I would share my soapy milk-flaxseed (linseed) experience.

I got told by a breastfeeding adviser to try to start my baby on occasional bottles between 6-8 weeks because otherwise the baby may reject bottles altogether in a preference for the breast. So a few weeks ago I expressed a small bottle of milk (over several days) which my 7 week old lapped up with enthusiasm . My partner and I were then reassured and didn't bother trying bottles again for another week.

In the meantime, I made another batch of cereal for myself (I'm coeliac, so I eat gluten-free cereal which I mix myself). In this batch I put in a whole stack of flaxseed (linseed) just to vary the cereal. A few days later we gave my baby another bottle of milk (again expressed over a few days). She took it but not very happily.

Yesterday, after having been eating this cereal for about 2 weeks now, my baby absolutely refused the bottle. We didn't understand why she would have been ok 2 weeks ago and not now until I tasted the milk. It tasted horribly soapy and disgusting . No wonder she didn't want it!

So at the moment it appears that my breastmilk is too disgusting to drink after only 4-6 hours of it having been expressed. However 2-3 weeks ago, my baby was happy to drink milk which had been stored in the fridge for a few days (3-4?). I didn't try the original batch of milk so I can say for sure that it wasn't soapy, but I doubt she would have drunk it if it had been.

Anyway, needless to say we started googling last night in an effort to work out what's gone on with my breastmilk and I found this thread. So as of today, I'm stopping the flaxseed hoping that it is indeed the problem. I'll report back in a few days time to let you know what's happened.

Other than that, I just wanted to say how sorry I am to all the mothers who've had to throw away all their stored milk - it's so sad and I can't imagine how miserable it must have been. Maybe LLL should put in their standard advice about storing breastmilk to check a few samples from time to time to make sure there are no problems. That way the mothers would have learnt much earlier on that their milk wasn't ok and not have worked for so long to build up a milk bank which wasn't usable...

[jgoaring]

This is a wonderful forum -- glad it is out here. A good friend of mine told me about the lipase problem about 4.5 years ago when I had my twins and was describing to her how with my first son my milk seemed to get soapy and weird after being stored in the freezer or even in the fridge for more than a day.

When I went back to work with the twins they were 6 months old. I worked nights and would pump a few times in a shift (worked as Family Birth Center RN) and then as soon as I got home in the morning, I would take all the milk and scald it in a pan on the stove. Then I poured it into ice cube trays that had covers on them and would put it in the freezer immediately. Later that day I would pop the "milk cubes" out of the tray and put them in freezer bags.

Looking back I am not sure if it was a totally sterile way to go but I generally counted on the anti-infective and anti-bacterial properties of milk to cover for me a bit

Now I have an 8 week old baby and I go back to work in a couple of weeks. I am a bit concerned because he is a refluxer, and he is so much younger than the twins were and we really haven't got him practicing with the bottle yet (though tomorrow my DH is going to try it while I go shopping).

So far I am trying the scalding and putting in the the freezer thing -- but I like the idea of maybe scalding and leaving in the fridge.... who has done it both ways? Any advantage to one or the other? If you can get 7-10 days out of the scalded milk in the fridge, that seems easier than warming it up from the frozen state. But obviously frozen should/could last much longer if need be.

Sorry to ramble on... like many of you, just thinking it through out loud. Trying to figure out how DH can quickly get a bottle ready in the middle of the night and the reviews on the bottle warmers on the Target website seem very mixed, so not sure about that option.

Jen G

[Hopin' for another]

I can't remember if I stopped taking the DHA last Monday or Tuesday. This past Sunday, less than a week no DHA or flax, I pumped and put a small amount in the fridge. I tasted it today--Wednesday. NASTY. I'll stay off the supplements and try next week. On the other hand, I had put some scalded milk in the fridge. After 3 or 4 days it was still fine. At least the scalding seems to be doing something.

My lactation consultant said that high lipase should only be transitory. It's often caused by women exercising too much or not eating enough. If it is ongoing, the woman should see her doctor.

Another interesting point I've learned. There was a study that showed a difference in lipase levels during the first couple of weeks in infants with breastmilk jaundice versus infants without. My son had breastmilk jaundice and was hospitalized at 16 days of age. The article is at: http://www.springerlink.com/content/t3242g7243140353/

[Hopin' for another]

I spoke at length with my lactation consultant. She said that a lot of information on DHA is provided by the formula companies. Of course they want their formula with DHA to seem as good as breast milk. She says a lot of the info on taking DHA supplements is based on the formula companies' "research." Supplements are not as bio-available as what we naturally supply. She said eating 2 extra eggs a week can provide the DHA for a breastfeeding mom.

I'm quite confused by all this, but thought I'd share this info with others.

[amyped]

I spoke at length with my lactation consultant. She said that a lot of information on DHA is provided by the formula companies. Of course they want their formula with DHA to seem as good as breast milk. She says a lot of the info on taking DHA supplements is based on the formula companies' "research." Supplements are not as bio-available as what we naturally supply. She said eating 2 extra eggs a week can provide the DHA for a breastfeeding mom.

I'm quite confused by all this, but thought I'd share this info with others.

This is very interesting - I posed this question a few months ago. I didn't have a problem freezing milk with my first dd - I do with my second. I did not take DHA supplements with my first, but do now. I thought this could be the missing link, too. My milk stays refrigerator fresh for at least 5 days (haven't tested it longer), but in the freezer - yuk! My frozen stash had to be thrown out - it was vile - smelled like vomit, really, not the soapy smell. So, I only scald freezer stuff and leave my fresh in fridge for days. I don't take flax seed, though.

[carpentergirl]

My lactation consultant said that high lipase should only be transitory. It's often caused by women exercising too much or not eating enough. If it is ongoing, the woman should see her doctor.

I am wondering about this statement personally. I have read that Lactic Acid can build up during strenuous physical activity and then make breast milk temporarily more salty to the taste. I have not read that higher levels of Lipase would be present during this same sort of activity. The job of Lipase is to break down the fats in bm to aid in digestion ect. Thus a higher level of lipase breaks down the milk faster, resulting in spoiled smelling, soapy smelling and generally "yucky" tasting milk. I suppose it is possible that if you had insufficient water intake that the level might concentrate in the bm, but I find it very unlikely. You dehydrate in other parts of your body before your bm is affected. You would need to be in a dessert somewhere distant

I could be wrong.

I will go see what other people think about this...

[amyped]

Considering I never exercise (bad me!) and certainly am eating enough - having trouble shedding that last 5 pregnancy pounds, I disagree with that statement. I didn't have a lipase problem with dd1 and do have one with dd2. I haven't changed anything except for that DHA pill that I take with my prenatal vitamin. Just my experience. I can't tell you if it's temporary or not. I scald what little bit I put in the freezer and my fresh stays good for at least 5 days, so

Amy

[Hopin' for another]

My LC didn't say ALL women have increased lipase because of exercise or diet, only that some women do. She hadn't heard anything about DHA, but I'm still hoping. I'll try a sample batch again when I've been off the DHA for a couple weeks.

[deanna75010]

Well, one week after stopping eating linseed (flaxseed) in my cereal and my bm still tastes soapy after a few hours. However it seemed to me to taste less soapy.. but it's hard to compare with my memory of how it tasted a week ago! Will report back in another week or so..