What a good thread for me to come across, I've got some EBM, but I've never given DD a bottle (lazy!), but looking at solids, I'd like to use the EBM for the rice cereal, and it's been in the freezer closer to 4 months. I'm gonna use it. She'll still have all her bfs anyway. Can't be worse for her than water, that's for sure!
The reason frozen EBM can go bad is because the enzyme that breaks down fat (lipase) is still active even when frozen (but a lot less active). If the milk has gone bad it has a very obvious smell quite similar to when cow's milk goes bad. I've spoken to someone at the ABA who told me that the milk should be fine to use as long as it doesn't smell bad. She also said that even if the milk is just starting to go bad a baby or child will often refuse to drink it. Smart little cookies aren't they?
Also, the reason that the recommendation is to use frozen EBM up before a year has passed if it is kept in a deep freezer is because that's how long it's been tested for. It seems there have been studies showing that EBM is still fine after a year in a deep freezer, but no studies testing it for longer. So chances are it could last significantly longer in a deep freezer.
Yes, I was a full time expresser. At the very end when my DS was about 11 months I was using my frozen supplies and some if was about 4 months old. I was aware that some of the nutritional value might have been changed because of the length of time it was stored. Anyhow the world didn't fall in, my son drank it and I would do it again if needs be...but I'm not a nutritionist so maybe there were things that I wasn't aware of at the time.
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