Stored Breastmilk - Justin,TX

If you don't freeze immediately the milk can separate. If you have 50 bags and are concerned don't use them and don't use anything over 6 months. But I wouldn't be concerned because of a discoloration because I bet the milk just separated and the less creamy part has doesn't look white it looks more yellow tinted. Its fine. I had 1000 oz. and donated much to the Mother's Milk Bank - mine looked slightly yellow due to separation - they were happy to get it.

I pumped and stored for 1 year & it always looked diff colors. When you thaw it will look creamy again. Just make sure to thaw in warm water, not the microwave.

Thank you for asking this!!! I have wondered the same thing. I'm still nursing my 14 mo. old dd and some of my older stored milk (last 6 months) had me wondering, but these great mamas have helped clear up my question too.

I don't know that I'd worry about the color so much as how long it's been in the freezer. I found that my older breast milk seemed to look different...it tends to separate when you defrost it as well so you need to mix it once it's defrosted...anyway, I have a plamphlet from medela the breast pump company and it stays the following for storage guidelines:
Freshly expressed breaskmilk:
room temp 4-10 hours
refrigerator 5-7 days
home freezer 6 months
-20 degree celcius freezer 12 months

previously frozen, thawed breastmilk
do not store at room temp and don't refreeze
refrigerator 24 hours

I'm sure you already do this, but remember to use the oldest milk first and save the newly frozen stuff for later, that way nothing ever gets over 6 months old.

I understand how you feel- my breastmilk is like liquid gold and would cry if I have to throw away a drop! I've noticed the earlier milk I pumped is actually naturally darker in color then what I am pumping now. Your milk changes as your baby grows and can be dependent on what you're eating. I would say it's just fine. I use the Lansinoh bags. Good luck!

Hi there,

I can't say for sure if its freezer burned or not, but you might want to defrost a bag of each and see if the darker milk has a bad odor. I'm stil nursing and pumping and the thought of throwing any milk out makes me feel sick...so I understand how you don't want any to go to waste. My milk often is not always the same color depending on what tiem of day I pu mped it or if it was in the fridge before I put it i nto the freezer. If the darker milk smells at all more sour or "off" smelling you may want to dump it, but if not its probably okay. Hope this helps.
L.

I remember that it does change colors. I think the frozen breastmilk lasts for 3 months or so; however,it does say on the storage packets to be sure.

is it this color forzen? bc sometimes it changes color but it is still good & a lot of times when you unfreeze it the color is less dark. if it is less than 6months old i would say its good

This might sound a bit weird but taste it!

It should be fine as long as it's less than 6 months old and you're storing it in the coldest part of your freezer-not the door. It's good even longer if you're keeping it in a deep freezer/chest freezer and since you're double bagging it, it should really be good. And like everyone else has said, your milk changes as your baby ages and grows, it gets more fatty. The Lansinoh bags are great as are the First Years easy pour bags. The only other question I have is are you using bags designed for breast milk? They are specially made for storing breast milk and have a coating inside them to help make it easier to release those extra drops of milk from the plastic.

There are guidelines saying how long breastmilk can be stored, check the internet or La Leche League. But I think the best way, is to taste it and smell it yourself. Let one of the batch thaw like you're going to use it, then you try it first instead of the baby. Judging it by the way it tastes can really tell you a lot- whether it's bad or not.

According to my daughter who has been breastfeeding my grandson for 9 months, it does change color and can even separate. That is normal. It sometimes is a different color from different times you pump. It is in her book on breastfeeing that it can change colors. Just make sure you get all the air out and seal it.
K.

Everyone already said it but i'd figured I'd chime in.. its good! Don't throw it away! Believe me, I know how heartbreaking it would be to toss all that hard work in the trash! I use the lansinoh bags they are great!

I don't think that freezer burn actually ruins things (?) unless the freezer burn goes all the way through an item. I may be wrong but that's my impression. I think the deal about freezer burn is that it changes the texture of things. Also, some things will acquire a freezer flavor if you keep them too long, especially in the smaller over-the-frig freezer that cycles on and off often.

I don't have any experience with frozen breast milk, but you got plenty of feedback on that aspect.

I occasionally have meat or frozen vegetables get freezer burned if I lose track of some item. The vegetables are usually a lost cost :) because the pieces are so small you can't cut off the burned part to salvage the item (ex: corn). But with frozen meat you can let it thaw slightly and shave the freezer burn right off and the meat tastes fine.

You can also "see" the affected freezer burned part so you can tell what to cut off.

I think the aspect you want to be concerned with is the age/efficacy of the breast milk. If you want to do an experiment to see if freezer burn looks different, you could probably excellerate the burn process by taking a package of your milk, taking it out of the bag and putting it in the small freezer in a bowl or a paper bag so it will be exposed to air and putting it back in the freezer, preferably the smaller freezer in the top of the refrigerator. After a while you will be able to see the drying out/ burning process.

Have fun

Oh, another thought: seal-a-mealing after the milk was already frozen may not be as ineffective as you think. The goal is to keep air/oxygen from getting to the item. The double layer of plastic would help with that. So would white freezer paper/alum foil/heavy duty freezer bags, etc.

PS

I decided to come back and add a post script because I wasn't sure if I had made myself clear. You see, there are two separate issues here: one is freezer burn and one is spoilage. Something can be spoiled without being freezer burned and vice versa.

The freezer burned area is simply dehydrated - that is what freezer burn is. That's why we wrap stuff - to keep the air out to keep it from drying out and getting freezer burned. Food will stay good longer if it doesn't dry out because that can change the texture and the exposure to the freezer air can also change the flavor. But those two changes don't mean that the food is BAD, as in SPOILED. The food is still edible, just not palatable.

Spoilage, on the other hand, is when something becomes poisonous or bad for you! Yes, freezer burn does "spoil" the palatability of the food, but that is based on taste/likes and dislikes. True spoilage usually takes place either before or after (as in the thawing out process) an item is frozen. Much of the time spoilage can be smelled or tasted. Sometimes it can't be and that's when people suffer from "food poisoning."

It may be that if your milk is freezer burned, you might be able to cut or shave off the part that got dried out without it affecting the flavor of the rest of the milk. Simply do it before it thaws out. If your milk did not sit around on the counter too long before you froze it and the freezer did not go through a power outage, then your milk is probably still good unless it is too old. The taste test will let you know if it's still good.

Sorry - the teacher part of me came out!

Hope this helps!

I agree that you should taste it! Just a good habit generally to taste what you feed your kids--no need to give them anything nasty! I started when I went back to work when DD was 4 mos old, and found that the work fridge wasn't consistent temp, so with the time in the cooler commuting and the inconsistent work fridge, sometimes milk would go bad more quickly than I expected. It's still a good practice now, though--just last week, I poured DD (now 2 1/2) a cup of milk out of a jug that said it was still good for another 5 days, then tasted it myself and found that it was sour! But you definitely DON'T want to throw out any breastmilk that might be good!

I think it should be okay. Your milk color can vary some depending upon diet. Also, there will be a slight change in taste, so don't think that it has gone bad when you start to use it. It should last up to 6-12 months in a deep freezer. Way to go for all of that pumping! From a fellow pumper to another, I am so proud of you!