Fishy Taste/smell After Defrosting Frozen Breastmilk

Hi T.,

I, too, have had the same problem. I stored my breastmilk in the deep freezer for about 2 months and got the same fishy smell with all of the bags of milk. Since I froze it correctly, in breast storage bags and under the allotted amount of storage time, I tried to feed it to my son anyway. He took one sniff and would not drink it. So, unfortunately, I threw all of it away--such a waste! I think I'd take the other Mom's suggestion to try the Avent bags--maybe the thicker bags would help.

Good luck!

Do you also store fish in your freezer? If so, the milk probably absolrb some of the flavor. To avoid this, you can double bag your breast milk, once in a breast milk bag and a second time in a regular freezer bag.

Yes, toss it. You would not drink it if it was normal milk smelling that way. Also, to absorb any smelly food odors...box of baking soda in both fridge and freezer. The timing for normal freezer is 3 months...6 months is deep freezer.

hi T.

it's great that you are invesitng lots of itme into pumping/storing your milk for your little one.

i wold not feed any milk that smelt bad to my baby. you have to be very careful with the freezing/thawing. i believe you are only supposed to keep the milk in the freezer for 3m before it goes bad. once you thaw it, it should be eaten w/i 24h. make sure to write a date on the milk, and try to use before 3m. i actually only let me milk sit in the freezer for 2m.

i know how you feel though. what i do is freeze my extra milk. then when that frozen milk is 2m old i start thawing it (i thaw enough for one day at a time). i give my baby the freshly thawed stuff. meanwhile i am freezing what i've been pumping. that way nothing goes to waste! good luck.

6 months is about as long as you want to store frozen breastmilk. It may have gone bad, but that doesn't mean it's all bad. Try openening a bag that was pumped more recently and see if it still tastes bad.

I personally wouldn't give my child breastmilk that tasted "off." And, chances are, if it tastes bad, your child won't drink it. I hope you don't have to throw it out, though! I know how hard it is to do that!

I agree with all the other moms - it's probably time to toss it. You might want to consider using the Avent VIA disposable storage containers. They can shield the milk from absorbing other odors because they are thicker than using regular bags. You can also buy converter kits so that you can use the bottles with any pump. I use mine with a Medela pump - they are easy to stack in the freezer as well. Here's a link to check out. Good luck!
http://www.aventamerica.com/products/disposablefeeding.asp

It is recommended to freeze your breastmilk in a conventional freezer refrigerater for 3 to 4 months. A deep freezer (-19 Degrees C) is where you would be able to freeze it up to 6 to 12 months. I would recommend you not feed the milk to your baby and throw out all the old ones out.
Good Luck!

If it smells off, its best to throw it out. Even short term mild can sometimes do that. Usually the baby will fuss while drinking if it is "off". Just do the smell test each time and you will probably be fine.

Breast milk only successfully stores in a regular freezer for 6 months anyways, and that is under perfect conditions (ie. temp setting was right, all the air was pushed out of the bag...) In a deep freeze it will last about a year. It sounds like the milk has hit it's expiration point.

I'd agree that the milk is bad. You can only store breastmilk in a regular freezer for no more than three months, you can store in a deep freeze for no more than 6 months. This info is directly from my La Leche League literature.

that is common.Breast milk has alive culture so it does smell BUT DONOT use formula to MASk anything

give your child the BM.they should be fine
Regards

I don't know if thats normal. I used to freeze my breastmilk too but only for like two or three months. I never kept it for 6 months. Me personally I would not feed that to my baby. Then again I don't eat frozen meat that has been there more than a month. Sorry but I do think you should keep it that long.

I would say that if you're in any doubt, throw it out. It isn't worth making baby sick from it. I also pumped and froze my breastmilk and I know how hard it can be to throw it out since you know how hard your body had to work to make it (it's almost an emotional attachment to milk, go figure!), but I assure you, you would feel worse if you gave something to your baby that made them sick.

I agree with the prior posting that if you stored fish in your freezer, the milk could absorb that odor, but I also don't think it's recommended to store breastmilk for longer than 2-3 months. I always tossed anything that had been in there longer than 2 months just to be safe.

This parenting thing is hard! Keep up the good work though! Good luck.