Sour milk? And losing supply? - Infant Care (up to 18 months old) Message Board

WhiskersOnKittens · 01-05-2008, 12:50 PM

Hi everyone,

I have a couple questions. The first one is this: I have been pumping my milk for about 7 months now. I had an extremely good supply for the longest time, so I was freezing bags and bags, which are now located in my deep freeze. I defrosted a bag last night, which filled three 8oz. bottles, and after feeding half of one of the bottles to my son over night, this morning I find out (after heating another) that the milk is sour! It looks normal, but smells horrible and I tasted a bit of it as well--and it tastes horrible! I noticed after a few hours (after my son had eaten the 4oz over night), when his old bottle was just sitting on the counter that the milk was very yellow, and also smelled very sour but I thought it had just gone bad from being out too long. Why would it be bad the day after defrosting it??? I would be SO upset to find out that none of my frozen bags are good! Because (and this brings me to my second question--), I think I may be losing my supply. I just found out that I am pregnant, and I recently started really noticing a dip in my supply--is it possible that the hormones from my pregnancy is causing my supply to drop?

Any ideas??

dizzygirl · 01-05-2008, 03:47 PM

It's absoultely normal to have a drop in supply when you're pregnant, try calling the LLL for some info on how to boost it. There are soem herbs and teas that are good for this, but being pregnant, I'm not sure what you can take. As far as it going bad that fast? I don't know why it would??? Could your fridge been off? Maybe it went bad before you froze it? Have you tried defrosting another one to see if they are all like that? I'm guessing it was a one time thing. Were you planning on nursing through the pregnancy? Congratulations BTW!!

baj406 · 01-05-2008, 03:53 PM

On the sour milk, I ran into a couple frozen bags that seemed sour. I just didn't use them. So, I doubt it's the WHOLE supply. As far as losing your supply, do you have a pump? You can try pumping between nursing sessions to boost your supply. Also, oatmeal will help boost your supply. I know fenugreek and mother's milk tea are supply boosters as well as goat's rue, but I don't know if they're safe during pregnancy. It may also be advisable to contact a lactation consultant and/or the La Leche League. Best of luck and congrats on your new bundle!

WhiskersOnKittens · 01-07-2008, 08:44 PM

Thanks for the replies, ladies! Since the sour bag, I have defrosted 2 more, and they were also both sour...

I have no idea what happened.... I will continue to defrost and see if any are good, but I am quickly losing hope. I have no idea what would've caused this... They are from different time periods (so far out of the 3 sour bags, one's from July, one from August, and one from late November), and dh and I wracked our brains trying to think of anything that could've caused the sour milk. The only thing we could think of is that we had a power outage in mid-November, however the power was only out about 2 hours, and during that time the deep freeze was not opened. Plus, that wouldn't explain the sour bag from late November... I have no idea and I'm so upset!!!

Any other ideas from anybody??? I'm desperate to know what happened....
As far as my decreasing supply goes, I will have to call LLL because after this dissapointing turn of events, I find out that my ds is allergic to milk (and it's quite a severe allergy at this time), and the pediatric allergist told us that when I'm done breastfeeding (I actually only pump and feed), we should give him soy formula until he's 2 (if he doesn't outgrow the allergy by then--which we won't even know for a year if he's outgrown it), which could get quite pricey, so I would like to be able to breast feed for as long as possible! I don't know how the whole buisness with having a toddler I would like to breast feed, and being pregnant would go.... Maybe I'll write a post.. lol

Whiskers

baj406 · 01-08-2008, 06:32 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by WhiskersOnKittens

Thanks for the replies, ladies! Since the sour bag, I have defrosted 2 more, and they were also both sour...

I have no idea what happened.... I will continue to defrost and see if any are good, but I am quickly losing hope. I have no idea what would've caused this... They are from different time periods (so far out of the 3 sour bags, one's from July, one from August, and one from late November), and dh and I wracked our brains trying to think of anything that could've caused the sour milk. The only thing we could think of is that we had a power outage in mid-November, however the power was only out about 2 hours, and during that time the deep freeze was not opened. Plus, that wouldn't explain the sour bag from late November... I have no idea and I'm so upset!!!

Any other ideas from anybody??? I'm desperate to know what happened....
As far as my decreasing supply goes, I will have to call LLL because after this dissapointing turn of events, I find out that my ds is allergic to milk (and it's quite a severe allergy at this time), and the pediatric allergist told us that when I'm done breastfeeding (I actually only pump and feed), we should give him soy formula until he's 2 (if he doesn't outgrow the allergy by then--which we won't even know for a year if he's outgrown it), which could get quite pricey, so I would like to be able to breast feed for as long as possible! I don't know how the whole buisness with having a toddler I would like to breast feed, and being pregnant would go.... Maybe I'll write a post.. lol

Whiskers

Any chance that somehow power to the freezer got interrupted any other time? DH and I went out of town for 9 days across Christmas. We went grocery shopping when we came home and I went to put the frozen goods away and realized the the surge protector our deep freeze is plugged into had gotten reset, meaning the red power button got flipped. Well, I opened the freezer and nearly passed out from the smell. Unfortunately, my 100+oz stash of bm was in there and I have long since stopped lactating! So, is it possible that the power supply got cut off at another time and came back on to refreeze the milk w/out you realizing it? I know, far fetched, but it could have happened. I'm so sorry it's all sour.
As far as the milk allergy, have you been advised to cut all dairy from your diet? DS can have neither milk nor soy, which is ultimately why I stopped pumping for him (I too only pumped and fed) because he just wasn't gaining weight. Then I tried to give the milk back later and he broke out in an awful rash. (I was never advised to stop all consumption of dairy and soy.) Anyway, I hope he can tolerate soy well and wish you the best luck!