Lipase is an enzyme that breaks down the fat in milk. When there is too much lipase, it breaks down the fat too fast and the milk can taste anywhere from soapy to horrid in a short amount of time.

Most women can store their milk in the fridge for 8 to 10 days, but for me it tastes horrid within 24 hours. I was not aware I had this issue until my son was almost 2. By happenstance, I offered him some frozen milk to drink. He said, "Icky," and he was right. I checked a sample from every months worth of milk I had and it was all undrinkable. It is safe, but the taste is awful. My SIL is an MD who does milkbanking. She said not to assume a newborn won't like it as their tastes are different. So, I saved the milk, just in case. However, I have found a tubefed baby that needs it, so that is my plan.

Scalding the milk can slow down the process. I haven't tasted any of my frozen scalded milk because I am afraid if it tastes bad I will get totally discouraged and stop pumping altogether. So, when/if we get a baby, I'll check out the old stuff. If it's bad I'll give it to my new milkbaby. If it's good I'll see if I need it.

I suggest anyone who is storing their milk should sample it from time to time. My son was 2 when I realized this problem. When we look back it makes sense. If I was gone for 12 hours, my son wouldn't take fridge milk in the morning, but he would in the afternoon. Probably by afternoon he was starving and would take anything. We thought he was just missing me.

Hi Second,
Thanks for the explanation. I never thought of testing the milk I already froze.

Are you working with an adoption agency for your baby? Domestic or international? Do they say how long your wait should be? We're waiting for our Child Abuse Clearance and then we should be "presentable" to birth parents. The waiting is no fun.

I completely understand why you haven't tested the scalded, frozen milk. So much of this milk making is psychological. I find myself obsessing over how much I can pump and how fast it comes out, etc. I suspect that is quite normal.

Nancy

I had this too with my last son. He is one of our bio children and I didn't pump much for him, when I did he never drank it (he would wait for me and didn't like a bottle) so I would give it to my DD in a cup. She never complained but one time I tasted it and thought it had gone bad. I didn't know about this condition and thought it was my fridge because we were living in Ireland at the time and refrigeration is a bit different there. I didn't have this issue with my previously breastfed children including my adopted daughter. SO I am guessing you can have it and then not have it.

Regarding the lipase. I think it can come and go even within the same kid's nursing time.

Regarding the adoption. We were going to go with an agency, but had trouble with them. In our state, there are no other agencies for newborns if you are not religious, which we are not. I've checked out agencies in other states, but we can't afford them. So we are hoping for a private adoption. We are on parentprofiles.com. I've placed some ads in the local university paper, on craigslist, and cafemom.com. Right after I posted them we got a lot more looks, but no bites. We've been on the site a couple days shy of a month. I've chatted with other people that have gotten matches within a few months from parentprofiles. We'll see what happens.