Will Breast Milk Get Freezer Burn?

Hey Stephy,

I looked up your problem and apparently this is a common thing and it may not be freezer burn. Your milk can change in taste and smell once it has been frozen. It has something to do with the way the fat breaks down and the amount of lipase in your milk, but the "experts" seem to think it should be fine.

Check out: http://parenting.ivillage.com/newborn/nbreastfeed/0,,3x9k...

and here: http://www.breastfeeding.com/helpme/helpme_asklc_ans135.html

Hope this helps.

Hi S.!

My daughter is a preemie and while she was in the NICU, the nurses gave me breast milk storage advice and instructions... I used Medela breast milk freezer storage bottles, put the milk in immediately, labeled it with time and date and made sure to "rotate" the bottles - breast milk is only good for about 3 months in the freezer and 24 hours in the fridge. Also, try to store the milk in the freezer part of the freezer, not the door. I found the bottles worked really well, plus you can reuse them. I think it's about $12 for a box of 24 and they actually come individually packaged and sterilized.

I always double bag it, it is good for 3 months in the freezer and 6 months in a deep freeze.

It can get freezer burn - the smell is pretty indicative of the taste.

To prevent freezer burn you can either double bag it in the little bags, or you can store several little bags in a premium freezer bag. Just put your bags in it, close it most of the way, take a straw and suck out the air, and finish closing it.

Remember, too, that according to LLL milk in a separate freezer stays good about 6 months.

I would think that it would not taste good freezer burned at the least. I am not sure which bags you are using. I liked the gerber storage bags myself. When putting them in the freezer, I double bagged them. If you don't want to use up the bags like that, I would recommend putting a gaggle :) of them in a big gallon size freezer bag to keep them from burning! :)A.