Home Forums Induced Lactation aka Adoptive Breastfeeding Medical Interventions to Induce Lactation/Increase Milk Supply Lipase problem I think

I've been pumping for a little over a month and have discovered that my pumped milk doesn't keep well, developing a sour taste within 24 hours; it tastes somewhat like soy milk and not as sweet as when freshly expressed. Milk that I'd frozen for a few days and thawed under warm running water tasted the same, rather sour and not at all sweet. From what I've read, this sounds like a lipase problem.

I've been trying to build a supply and store as much as I can in anticipation of our twin girls who will be 6-9 months when they join our family. We're still a few months away from completing our adoption and I had planned to keep pumping, but if I can't use the milk, it seems somewhat pointless to be pumping 6 times a day.

I've read about scalding to stop the lipase action, but am concerned that I don't really produce enough at a time to make this work. I am currently producing a little over 5oz/day, about 2oz at the first morning pumping, 0.5-1oz during each of the remaining pumping sessions. I don't imagine that scalding less than an ounce will work very well, but if I wait until the end of the day the milk will already have an "off" taste.

In order to pump a greater amount each time, I'm considering pumping less often, 2 or 3 times daily, so that I can scald larger amounts of milk; I've read that a bottle warmer works well for this. Will my supply drop if I do that or will I be able to maintain the 5oz per day? I would resume more frequent pumping once we were within a month of travelling, to try to increase the supply, although I've been rather steady at 5oz for the past week or so.

I'm looking for any suggestions as to what to do about lipase (dietary suggestions, scalding or freezing tips, ...) and advice on how often to pump when we still have 3-4 months to wait. I was on the bcp/dom protocol for a year and currently take 120mg/day of dom and 3X3 tablets of fenugreek. It is my understanding that blessed thistle is more to aid with tolerating the fenugreek than to build supply, but if I'm wrong about this please advise and I will add it as well.

I really hadn't anticipated this and am feeling rather discouraged. Any advice would be very welcome.

Kim

If you cut back on your pumpings you will loose your supply. You may pump larger amounts for a few days. But you are telling your body that your baby no longer needs to nurse that much when you cut down your pumpings. I would suggest getting a small sautee pan. Stainless steel. Not a nonstick or aluminum. Just heat your pan and pour your milk in it and and swish around. Then remove and put your milk in the fidge. It will stop the lipids. Then do the same with your next pump. Then freeze them at the end of the day. I also have the same problem. When I am off the protocol my milk builds really slowly. So at first.. walmart has a little tiny stainless steel pan. Its for melting butter. Its only about 3 inches in diameter. I use it first then switch to the regular sautee pan when my supply gets bigger. I know its a pain with a small supply but it will work. 5 ounces a day is pretty good. Just don't cut back or it will drop

I also have lipase. I was nursing a biobaby and trying to maintain my supply and build a stash for an adopted baby. As my son was aging, I was lucky to get 1/2 to 1 ounce per pumping. As long as I got half an ounce, I scalded and saved. Funny thing is, now that we have adoptive baby, it is the small bags I need. Anything bigger than 2 ounces thawed would go to waste as I only need to supplement with 1 to 2 ounces a day.

The other thing is, I still have milk from before I started scalding and she will take it. My SIL is an MD involved with milkbanks and said don't assume a newborn's tastes will be the same as an adult's. How glad I am I listened to her and just hung onto my milk.

Here's how I scald. Get a canning jar and a candy thermometer. Also a small pot to act as a double boiler. Put the fresh milk in the jar and the jar in the pot of water. Put the thermometer in the milk. I brought mine up to 170 degrees. Different sources say different temps. This thermometer won't be totally accurate, but close enough. Scald, cool on the stove, and put in freezer milk bag. DOn't try and cool quickly by immersing in water as you will crack the glass.

Like I said, as long as I was getting 1/2 an ounce I scalded. It was a pain, but I'm so glad I did it.

Here's another suggestion based on our tragedy. We went out of town for the weekend and came how to find half my milk had thawed because the freezer hadn't been completely closed. Sad thing is we had one of those $3 appliance locks sitting around in case we needed to keep our toddler out of the fridge. Had we put it on our freezer before, I'd have a lot more milk down there.

Hi all. Sorry to barge into this topic, but I have a question.

I have never tasted my milk. I just pump and freeze whatever I have by the end of the day, I only make like 2 oz. a day. I am now worried about this lipase taste.

Do you advise that I should taste the milk after I pump it? And if it has this sour taste in it, does that mean I should thaw all the milk I have already frozen and scald all of that?

Thanks .

The sour taste will not be in it as soon as you pump it. Its after its been in the fridge for over 24 hours or frozen. It gives the lipids time to break down the protiens in your milk. So it won't be there right away.

Second... are you hurting your milk with that high of a temp? When we pasturize we only go to 146 degrees F. Can you explain more about how you do this. Are you building up to this temperature? How long are you holding it at that temp? Scalding is a quick process. Like a flash splash.. you don't want to destroy all your milk antibodies.. maybe I am wrong and this is a new way. Can someone help me understand this one. This is a way I know nothing about.????? ( confused)

Thank you for the suggestions. I won't stop pumping and will try to scald the smaller quantities. Yesterday I tried at the end of the day using a Turkish coffee pot (a very small pan). I will test it over the next few days to see how well this works.

I had Lipase with my last bio child whenever I pumped for him and it sat in the fridge I thought it was going bad. HE wouldn't ever take a bottle so I would pour the pumped milk in a sippy and give it to my DD who was 3 at that time. She always drank it no problem.

my DD drank mine to.. and it was so awful tastin ewwwwwwww. But babies don't have the same tastes as adults