Breastmilk Tastes like Soap

This issue came up at the Evanston La Leche League meeting a few months back and this website was given to help the mom through this issue.http://www.kellymom.com/bf/pumping/lipase-expressedmilk.html.

Kellymom is great for all sorts of bf issue. I hope you find some answers. Best of luck to you!

J.
Evanston, IL
Mom to Xander (2.75 years) and Luka (8 months)

Scalding is a process of heating milk to just before boiling - according to Joy of Cooking - you heat ina pan until tiny bubbles form around the edge of the pan and the milk reaches 180°.

Knew that college foods and nutrition degree would come to some use!

M. H. - Your Pampered Chf consultant

Here's some more info on this, in case you're still interested...

http://www.llli.org/NB/NBJulAug98p109.html

Best wishes,
J.

The LC didnt know how? From what I remember at the breastfeeding group I attend is you heat it to just before boiling.

I know that with cooking, to scald the milk means to bring it to a steam but not a boil... put it in a pan and heat it until you begin to see a bit of steam come off the milk. Stir it while you wait, and as soon as that steam starts, shut off the heat and you're done. I'm not sure if it's the same in this situation, but good luck!

At medium heat, bring milk to scald. That's when the edges of the pot start to bubble. Do NOT let the pan bubble, just the edge of pot. Strain in sanitized strainer and cap when cooled to room temperature.

Mine does that too! Thankfully my 15 month old isn't really taking bottles anymore and I am home with him so it hasn't been a huge issue, but we were wondering why even stuff that I had *just* frozen the day before tasted like that.

Per kellymom.com:
To scald milk:

* Heat milk to about 180 F (82 C), or until you see little bubbles around the edge of the pan (not to a full, rolling boil).
* Quickly cool and store the milk.

Scalding the milk will destroy some of the antiinfective properties of the milk and may lower some nutrient levels, but this is not likely to be an issue unless all of the milk that baby is receiving has been heat-treated.

Per Lawrence & Lawrence, bile salt-stimulated lipase can also be destroyed by heating the milk at 144.5 F (62.5 C) for one minute (p. 205), or at 163 F (72 C) for up to 15 seconds (p. 771).

http://www.kellymom.com/bf/pumping/lipase-expressedmilk.html

This happened to me when I was pumping. The bag of breast milk would be all bubbly like soap. I found out it was because my breast pump ( part that goes on your boob) still had some soap trapped in it after washing. Try making sure your pump parts are really really really rinsed out.
Hope this helps! Go

A.,

I know all about this as I too produce too much of the lipase enzyme. I could go on and on. I agree with the prior post - scalding is heating until you see little bubbles, but not boiling. As soon as it's scalded, cool it or freeze it immediately. It should store fine then, but it's just a pain in the butt doing this all the time.

The reality is that either you'll have to feed it to the child immediately or scald it immediately. Even when I froze mine immediately, it still took too long to freeze enough to stop the enzyme from digesting the milk and therefore causing it to prematurely spoil. So ALL my frozen milk was bad!

If you want to talk more just e-mail me, I know oh too well what you're going through since I had to deal with this for two kids already.

Sara

Actively seek out Le Leche League support. There are many groups in the area & they are very supportive & knowledgeable. Please, don't be discouraged. It's probably related to something that you're eating...maybe a food additive or preservative. It's not you.

Mine curdled when I froze it but it's the same process to stop it. I was told to right after I pumped put the milk in a pan and watch it really carefully till it just starts to get bubbles around the edge. Take if off the heat and put it in the fridge.

Someone mentioned they couldn't cool the milk fast enough. Maybe try the following. I've never had this issue so don't know if this will work effectively, but it might be worth a try. It's a good technique for cooling other things quickly, so it might work. Prepare an ice water bath in a bowl big enough to accommodate your containers. After scalding transfer to the storage containers and immediately immerse in the ice water bath to cool it down quickly, then get it in the freezer.

you made me remember that this happened with my first daughter! I had totally forgotten.

It turns out that the solution was easy - I didn't use soap on my breasts when showering and made sure to rinse them last before I got out of the shower. Then I also double rinsed the pumping stuff every time I washed it. No more soapy taste.

A.:

actually not all that rare....

and scalding works... heat til tiny bubbles begin to form.

P., RLC, IBCLC
Breastfeeding and Parenting Solutions

Hi A.:

To scald the milk means to let it reach near boiling point and then place it in the refrigerator (if I recall). That is a lot of work to pump, scald, and then store when you can just buy the powdered formula in a can and make it fresh everyday. I breast fed my son for 10 weeks and then purchased the large cans of ENFAMIL w/iron powdered milk formula. I also bought a glass carafe and made the milk fresh everyday and he is now almost 7 and has been healthy, without ear infections (due to the breast milk of course).