Breast Milk Storage & Excess Lipase

I had over 50 ounces of breast milk in the freezer. But my baby wouldn't drink it, almost like it was rotten...

Storing breast milk has always been a big thing for me. I like knowing that I can leave for a day, and not have to worry about Felicity running out of milk. 

But if you've read my previous post on breast milk, you'll know that it's been hard for me; to have enough milk for my supply. 

I was finally able to store over 50 ounces in the freezer; and keep a rotation of at least 20 ounces in the fridge. 

This is after roughly two months of non stop pumping. 

One day, I decided to take out a few bags from the freezer and give them to Felicity. 

After the first bag, she puked.. 

Later that day, second bag, she puked. 

I didn't understand why.

I had done everything properly. 

I had been extremely careful to follow procedure. 

I even made sure that my bags were in the back of the freezer. 

So what was happening?

My milk had a weird look to it, it smelled soapy.

It turns out, like many other women, I have excess lipase. 

What is lipase?

How do you know if you have too much? 

Here are the quick facts for you:

Lipase is actually an enzyme, it's there to help break down fats. 

Which, in turn, makes the milk easier for your little one to digest. 

All breast milk has lipase in it.

Excessive lipase causes the fat in your milk to break down very quickly.

Lansinoh bags

Which can make your milk taste metallic, sour or soapy. It hasn't gone bad though, it's completely safe to drink. Some babies, however, hate the taste and refuse to drink it. 

It even has that effect on frozen milk.

So, what can you do about it?

If you have excessive lipase, you have a few options. 

*Scalding your milk.

Once you've pumped, heat the milk in a saucepan between 140°f-180°f. Or just until bubbles start forming on the edges of the pan. 

*Don't heat it to a complete boil.*

Scalding your milk, kills off the lipase

Right afterwards, put the milk in the fridge to cool off. For me, it took half an hour. After that, you can transfer it to your freezer if you wish. Inside of whatever you typically store it in. For myself it's Lansinoh bags. 

Other mom's instead, will heat the milk in their bottle warmers. 

If that's a better option for you just make sure that it doesn't go above 180°.

Also, make sure you have a way of immediately cooling the milk nearby.

Note: Scalding milk that was already frozen, won't change the taste of the milk after the lipase has done it's job.

Ball jars

*Airtight containers.

Investing in some air tight storage containers can help to slow lipase down. 

I highly recommend these jars.

They've been my little miracle workers, you can buy them in 4 or 8 ounce sizes.

They are safe in the freezer as well, I'm just clumsy and don't trust myself to not accidentally break one that way.

However, they do sell an optional warranty as well. 

*Milk baths.

You could always just use your freezer storage for milk baths. I use between 6-8 ounces sometimes for my girl. 

It really helps to clear up cradle cap, or eczema.

*Donation.

Milk donation is always highly appreciated in hospitals. Excess lipase doesn't matter when a baby in the N.I.C.U is being tube fed. 

If you're having this issue, I hope that this information can help you along on your pumping journey.

~Katie~

The Struggle: My Journey With Breast Milk

 As most women do, or try to do, I initially chose to breastfeed. 

Now at first, I was one of the lucky ones. No latch problems and no pain. The hard parts were; leaking, how often I needed to feed, and not being able to do much of anything while Felicity was latched.

But those are pretty typical problems.

I'm going to be completely honest here.

My issue is that I never really enjoyed breastfeeding.

Obviously I love my child and we share a special connection regardless. But I never felt the joy that other mom's talk about while breastfeeding. I actually felt lonely and in fact, I was resentful. Not towards Felicity, resentful towards Jesse. I hated that all of the feedings were my responsibility.
I felt trapped, like I would never be able to go anywhere on my own, ever.
I also like to have control of most situations; a quirk that comes from a rough childhood. 
It was stressful not knowing how much milk she was drinking. But the main reason was that I wasn't my best self because I was so stressed out.

Some people would tell me to just sleep with the baby in our bed. Because then I could just let her find the boob and eat while I slept. 

But it wasn't something I was comfortable with. Because I roll sometimes and Jesse rolls constantly.

After two weeks postpartum, I broke out the pump and switched to bottle feeding at night. That way Jesse could help me out.

I decided to give Felicity breast during the day, unless I had to go out somewhere with her.

One of the first feeds!

Because of personal preference and convenience, I prefer to bring pumped milk. 

Now, we've been told by several health professionals to let the baby eat as much as she wants. So that's what I did and I only overfed her twice. Both times ended in a scene like something from ' The Exorcist '.

I ended up switching completely to bottle feeding, as a personal preference, after 3 months postpartum.

We found that around 1.5 months of age, she was eating 4 ounces every 2-3 hours.

Suddenly my milk supply dropped, and I started going from pumping 4-6 ounces every 4 hours, to 1-2 ounces. I drank so much Mothers Milk tea, took Fenugreek religiously, ate oatmeal and spinach like it was my new diet. I tried pumping every 2 hours. I even started letting her eat from my breast again.

But she started to do this thing where she would eat for about, 5 minutes. Then suddenly; she would refuse the boob. Even though she was still hungry. I tried waiting it out until she was hungry enough to want it, but that didn't work. I tried everything I could think of.
The only thing that did work; was to give her the boob for 5 minutes, change her and play for a bit. Then to give her a bottle with 2-3 ounces in it. I asked lactation consultants and nurses what I should do. They said, if it's working, just do what you're doing.

I knew that my body had just adjusted the supply to what it thought my baby needed. But it wasn't enough, and it was stressing me out. 

Comotomo bottle

The 'milk drought' was starting to cause arguments between Jesse and myself. It was an everyday agitation, everyday and every minute to be exact. I started thinking that I was a failure for not being able to feed her enough.

We started having to supplement with 6 ounces of formula; spread between two feedings each day.  I'm lucky that she wasn't fussy about boob, bottle or formula.

One day I was scrolling on Instagram and saw that someone had lactation issues and got a prescription for Domperidone. 

My doctor knew of my issues, but had never brought that up!
After I had researched a bit about it, I decided that I wanted that drug. 

So I approached my doctor about it, who was more than happy to prescribe it. 

10mg, one pill, three times a day. 

The downsides: I can't eat grapefruit, as it interferes with the medication. 

I can up my dosage if needed, but should consult the doctor first, as it can raise the heart rate.
The side effects aren't guaranteed, but they are headaches and dry mouth.

Plus, without any insurance, the pills are $18 for a month supply. 

It took a week before I started seeing results.
I now pump 6 ounces from each breast every 4-5 hours!

Spectra

(That being said; I'm not a doctor. It's always recommended that you consult a doctor before taking medication.)

Now I'm nearly 5 months postpartum, exclusively bottle feeding, giving Felicity milk baths and finally storing some milk. (However, that's going to be a whole other post.) I plan on feeding her breast milk until Felicity is 2 years old. (If all goes according to plan.)

I feel amazing now that my biggest stress is gone!

It's never easy though, every woman has her own story.
Of course breast milk has more nutritional value, but formula won't harm your baby in anyway.
Whatever you chose, it's your journey.
Personally, I'm enjoying pumping and bottle feeding. I don't mind how often I have to wash stuff.

Ladies, feel free to share your own stories in the comments.

~Katie~

The Surprising Benefits of Silverware.

One day, my fiancè told me how he had saved a tiny silver spoon for his future baby. I think that I was 20 weeks pregnant at the time, with Felicity. I laughed pretty hard in his face, and made a joke about her "growing up with a silver spoon in her mouth". He told me that silver is actually antibacterial. I didn't believe him without doing my own research, I discovered that he was right! 

Afterwards, I ended up looking more into it and finding that silverware has a surprising amount of health benefits! 

It's actually been used for medical purposes since 702-705 A.D.

At least, that's what's documented.

So, here are a few health reasons, that may make you beg grandma for her silverware set. 

1. Antibacterial.

Silver is indefinitely good against bacteria! In my research I actually found a website that talks about how silver turns bacteria into zombies. 

Learn more about how silver turns bacteria into zombies.

2. Keeps food fresh.

Surprisingly silver can help to keep your food or drinks fresh longer.

3. Destroys microorganisms.

Help protect your body by destroying dangerous microorganisms.

4. Prevents decay.

Helps to prevent decay, by killing bacteria. 

5. Immune system.

Helps to better your immune system with it's antibacterial properties.

*Plus there is Colloidal Silver, which comes with it's own health benefits.

Learn more about colloidal silver.

Now, I don't expect you all to go and raid antique stores or to buy a silverware set online. (They can get pretty pricey!) 

But if you have some silverware collecting dust, it might be worth pulling it out again.

~Katie~