Pumping Challenges: Excess Lipase - Rachel

About 2 weeks before my daughter started daycare I decided to give her a bottle from my frozen stash. I wanted to make sure she would take it in case the taste had changed slightly in the freezing process. When I defrostedthe first bag, I noticed an overwhelming smell of metal. I thought perhaps it was just something wrong with that bag, so I thawed another bag. Same thing. I became terrified that my 400 oz stash of frozen milk was bad. Without any knowledge of what was causing this, I consulted my friend Dr Google. I was led to multiple message boards with moms stating their frozen milk smelled metallic or soapy. After reading multiple forums and doing some real research, I discovered I had an excess lipase issue.

What I learned:

- Lipase is an enzyme that helps to break down the fats in milk. In moms with excess lipase, the lipase begins breaking down the fats soon after expression, altering the taste and smell of the milk.

- There is nothing you can do to change the amount of lipase in your milk.

- Although it smells terrible, it is not harmful to the baby. As long as the baby is still willing to drink it, it is safe to give. (Some babies reject the milk due to the altered taste.)

- There is nothing you can do to milk that has already been frozen. However, after expressing milk, it can be scalded before freezing to slow the breakdown of fats.

- If your baby will not take the frozen milk, milk banks will still accept it.

I filled Hannah's bottle with the icky milk and prayed she would take it. She gave me a disapproving look at first and then gulped down the bottle as usual. I breathed a huge sigh of relief with the realization that I would not have to get rid of my large stash. I spoke with my pediatrician and a lactation consult about scalding my milk in the future. The consensus was that you should not scald if the baby is willing to drink it as is. Exposing milk to heat of any kind can decrease its nutritional value. However, for those that must scald, it is still better than formula.

Excess lipase is not a very common problem, but it is not as rare as I thought either. For anyone building a frozen stash, please check your milk! I am lucky that my daughter is willing to drink it, but I have come across others that had to give up their entire freezer stash.