Lipase in Breastmilk

Found this on the internet. Hope it helps!

Per Lawrence & Lawrence (p. 158), the amount of BSSL in a particular mother's milk does not vary during a feed, and is not different at different times of day or different stages of lactation. There is evidence that there may be a decrease in lipase activity over time in mothers who are malnourished.

What can I do if my storage problem is due to excess lipase? Once the milk becomes sour or rancid smelling/tasting, there is no known way to salvage it. However, newly expressed milk can be stored by heating the milk to a scald to inactivate the lipase and stop the process of fat digestion. Scald the milk as soon after expression as possible.

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.

2 moms found this helpful

I think that's what my sister had and her solution was to pump now and refridge as soon as possible for as short as possible and then scald when she got home. It's not perfect, but I think that's what she did. Microwaving breastmilk does change it's composition so I wouldn't do that under any circumstances.

1 mom found this helpful

I have the same problem, and this is what I do:

Use a Munchkin bottle warmer and fill the water container twice and add it to the warmer. Loosen the bottle cover and put the freshly pumped milk in the warmer, and put the sterilizing cap on the warmer so the heart stays in. Start the warmer and once it has completed warming, put immediately into your bottle cooler. This heats up the milk to the proper temperature so that the enzyme is inactive, and preserved the taste of the milk. Otherwise, the milk tastes and smells like cheese. The milk can be frozen at this point and it will still be fine when you defrost it. I use Medela bottles, and they fit in the warmer perfectly. I keep the warmer right under my desk, and it seems to be the most convenient system for a really annoying problem. Good Luck!

1 mom found this helpful

If she hasn't already, it sounds like a visit with a lactation specialist would be very helpful. 1/2 an hour with one is worth about 20 hours searching online. And you get better answers.

Good luck.