https://boards.hellobee.com/ Pregnancy, Baby and Parenting blog, by Hellobee en Fri, 24 Apr 2026 23:13:04 +0000 https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/why-does-my-breast-milk-taste-sour#post-1170881 Thu, 24 Oct 2013 09:45:31 +0000 Mamaof2 1170881@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@mrskc: Yes BM should be refrigerated after 3-4 hours BUT I was doing it for a test. I pumped at work and was hoping I could pump all my milk then scald at home but since I am gone from the house for 10 hours my milk would have soured so from the test I found out that I needed to scald my milk at work after I pumped - hope that makes sense! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/why-does-my-breast-milk-taste-sour#post-1170798 Thu, 24 Oct 2013 09:25:30 +0000 mrskc 1170798@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@marionberry: Oh and I also want to let you know that if you do have excess lipase in your milk, it doesn't mean the milk is bad! It is still ok for you baby to drink even if it does have a sour/soapy taste. </p> <p>@Mamaof2: I think I just got lucky with my son because he's always been willing to drink it. He's one now and we've had no problems with it. Also,.... isn't breast milk only good for like 6-8 hours at room temp? </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/why-does-my-breast-milk-taste-sour#post-1170591 Thu, 24 Oct 2013 08:33:09 +0000 Mamaof2 1170591@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I also did a test on my milk after my DS refused and Dh tasted it and said it was awful!</p> <p>I pumped 2 oz and left it on the counter and tasted it every hour - at 10 hours it went sour. So, I now knew that if DS needed milk it would be fine for 10 hours after pumping w/o scalding.</p> <p>Here is the problem - your child may not mind the "sour" milk now BUT if he decides 2 months from now he hates it then ALL your freezer stash will need to be tossed - ouch!!! I wasn't willing to risk it so I scalded ALL my pumped milk - then froze it. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/why-does-my-breast-milk-taste-sour#post-1170205 Wed, 23 Oct 2013 23:46:30 +0000 marionberry 1170205@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@mrskc: Ya I may try your same experiment and see if that holds true. I'm worried my son may do the same thing with his bottles too, in not really eating much during the day. I'm hoping not though. I have 3 weeks before he goes to daycare. Thanks for the good luck! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/why-does-my-breast-milk-taste-sour#post-1170065 Wed, 23 Oct 2013 21:36:36 +0000 mrskc 1170065@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@marionberry: I did a little experiment to see if it was excess lipase. I scalded half of freshly pumped milk. I left some unscalded on the counter and some unscalded and scalded in the fridge. I then did taste tests every hour. I can't remember exactly how long but within just a couple of hours, the milk sitting on the counter started getting the sour/soapy taste. I taste tested the milk in the fridge 12 hours later. The scalded tasted sweet and the nonscalded milk tasted sour. So I definitely have a excess lipase in my milk. </p> <p>We tested out my son and it turns out he was fine with taking the milk from the bottle unscalded. So I never bothered with scalding my milk. He really didn't like bottles though. Sometimes he would take them and sometimes he wouldn't. He ended up reverse cycling and nursed a lot at night and hardly took any milk during the day while I was gone. It was exhausting! </p> <p>Maybe it was just that one bottle? How long was it in the fridge before you gave it to LO? I think defrosted milk is only good for 24 hours. You could do a little experiment like I did. I knew something had to be up with my milk when just a day in the fridge it was tasting sour when it's supposed to last up to a week. Good luck! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/why-does-my-breast-milk-taste-sour#post-1169997 Wed, 23 Oct 2013 21:00:31 +0000 marionberry 1169997@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@bhbee: That's actually helpful to hear. This bottle happened to have "defrosted" in the fridge from the night before and I think that's why it may have tasted more sour, because the next which was freshly defrosted from the freezer straight into hot water did not. I'll be testing this theory on subsequent bottles if I can get my lo to take one...that's the other issue. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/why-does-my-breast-milk-taste-sour#post-1169959 Wed, 23 Oct 2013 20:31:18 +0000 bhbee 1169959@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I didn't have an ongoing problem (definitely no lipase problem) but my experience was that some bottles were just more sour/sweet than others, sometimes I thought freezing/thawing was part of it or how long it had been in the fridge (never beyond guidelines). could the temperature even be part of the issue with why the bottle was rejected? my LO definitely took some milk that smelled/tasted a little funny to me but she thought it was fine.</p> <p>all that to say I wouldn't worry just yet if this is the first time, hopefully all your experimenting will bring you an answer! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/why-does-my-breast-milk-taste-sour#post-1169939 Wed, 23 Oct 2013 20:19:01 +0000 marionberry 1169939@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@mrskc: what was the end result? I'm trying to get ds to take a bottle and one of his bottles tastes sour. I unfroze another bottle and it didn't seem sour so I'm confused. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/why-does-my-breast-milk-taste-sour#post-490813 Wed, 09 Jan 2013 10:50:56 +0000 Bluebonnet 490813@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Not sure what it could be, but you could always see if mixing the sour tasting milk with fresh milk would dilute the taste enough for LO to take the bottle. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/why-does-my-breast-milk-taste-sour#post-490775 Wed, 09 Jan 2013 10:33:46 +0000 mrskc 490775@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@Thehistoryofus: yeah I'm going to defrost a couple and see. I also saved some pumped milk from yesterday in the fridge. I'll see how it tastes this morning.</p> <p> @MsLipGloss: in the bottle that came with my pump. I don't think it's my drinking water. I have a rain soft water softener and a reverse osmosis filter so the water I drink should be pretty clean. Not sure about the fish oil stuff. I don't eat that much fish. </p> <p>I've noticed this with other milk I've tasted. That it didn't taste very sweet. I asked my DH last night and he said DS has taken a bottle of milk from the fridge before. </p> <p>I might do a little experiment to find out if it lipase or something different. I'll scold half my milk that I pump and then store both non scalded milk and scalded milk in the fridge and freezer and then do some taste tests. I'll also test to see if DS will actually drink the funny tasting milk. If it is a lipase problem then the scalded milk should taste sweet while the non scalded wont. </p> <p>Anyone else have suggestions or insight? </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/why-does-my-breast-milk-taste-sour#post-490662 Wed, 09 Jan 2013 09:58:12 +0000 MsLipGloss 490662@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>This is from KellyMom:</p> <p>What if your milk tastes/smells sour, or even rancid, rather than soapy?</p> <p>If your milk tastes/smells sour or rancid rather than soapy, the cause may be chemical oxidation rather than lipase (Mohrbacher, p. 461). Mom’s intake of polyunsaturated fats may be involved, or free copper or iron ions in her water. When this happens, Mohrbacher has a few suggestions to try:</p> <p> ■avoid your usual drinking water (either drinking it or having milk come into contact with it)</p> <p> ■avoid fish-oil and flaxseed supplements, and foods like anchovies that contain rancid fats</p> <p> ■increase your antioxidant intake (including beta carotene and vitamin E).</p> <p><a href="http://kellymom.com/bf/pumpingmoms/milkstorage/lipase-expressedmilk/" rel="nofollow">http://kellymom.com/bf/pumpingmoms/milkstorage/lipase-expressedmilk/</a> </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/why-does-my-breast-milk-taste-sour#post-490659 Wed, 09 Jan 2013 09:57:20 +0000 MsLipGloss 490659@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@MrsKC: What was the milk stored in? </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/why-does-my-breast-milk-taste-sour#post-490645 Wed, 09 Jan 2013 09:52:46 +0000 T.H.O.U. 490645@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I think the only way to test it would be to defrost a few bags and see. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/why-does-my-breast-milk-taste-sour#post-489424 Tue, 08 Jan 2013 16:37:45 +0000 mrskc 489424@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@Mrsbells: maybe once before a long time ago he's had it from the fridge. I can't remember how much he drank of it. Usually he has it fresh pumped. But I've let it sit out room temp for a few hours before and he still drank it. Not sure if it tasted sour or not. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/why-does-my-breast-milk-taste-sour#post-489416 Tue, 08 Jan 2013 16:34:31 +0000 Mrsbells 489416@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Is this the first time that he has had pumped milk from the fridge? </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/why-does-my-breast-milk-taste-sour#post-489404 Tue, 08 Jan 2013 16:27:24 +0000 mrskc 489404@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I pumped DS a bottle last night and refrigerated it. I had a nanny over doing a trial today. He wouldn't drink the bottle and when I tasted it already tastes sour. Does this mean I have a lipase problem? What do I do about? Does this mean all my frozen milk is bad. He's taken a pumped bottle that's sat out awhile before. </p>