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I have been freezing my ebm ready for dd to stay with my parents.
I thought I should trial her with a bottle to see how she goes. When I opened up my ice tray, you could tell a massive difference in the milk from the different sides.
If this normal to have better milk on one side and not the other?
Can I do anything about it?
Hmm, interesting! I haven't heard this exact one... I know many mums find they are able to express different amounts from different sides... And that at different times of day the milk looks different... But that it looks different from each side, not too sure! I would think it is fine - but I'll be interested to see what others say!
Hi,
How did you know which milk was “better”? do you mean the milk on one side of the freezer was ‘better”.
One thing for certain is if it came out of your boob it is perfect for your baby. Human milk is an ever changing fluid (and so would cow milk be if delivered to the animal intended in the manner intended) But we take cow milk out of the cow, put it in a big vat, homogonize and pasurterise it till it all looks the same - and then we compare our own milk to the milk of another animal and pronounce our milk to be inferior. What the ?
If one of your breasts was relatively fuller it will have a higher ration of water to fat, and look thinner and bluer than from a breast that is relatively emptier - but why would that be “worse”/
You can not tell the "quality" of breast milk by looking at it.
It's pretty normal for the appearance of your milk to change when you express. It has nothing to do with the quality, the milk is equally good for your baby no matter what it look slike
Breast milk changes naturally throughout the feed. The milk that comes out first is thinner & watery looking & quenches the baby's thirst. Then as the feed goes on the milk gets thicker (more fat) and satisfies the baby's hunger. They are both equally nutritious and just as important in meeting baby's needs.
I guess there can be differences in milk, as explained above, but the important thing is that it all works out in the end as it's all perfect for your baby.
The milk comparison is between breasts. Left breast is always fuller and bigger. This milk that I froze is rich creamy and even coloured. Right breast is always the less full, not able to do a full feed side. When I've expressed and frozen this side it is more watery looking with a creamier centre. Definitely not as rich as the left side.
I'd always known dd doesn't get full on the right side, I normally just top her up with it to sleep now. I'd always just thought it was the quantity, but it appears the quality or creaminess is different too.
It was a full express from both sides, same time of day.
Which side had she fed off last? The creamier side? It might just be that one breast had more foremilk in it, which is equally as important as hind milk. It doesn't mean that the quality is lower, it just has a different function :)
She'd fed off the opposite side each time.
Not really answering your question, but funnily, my left boob is my awesome boob. Right one's a bit of a dud. But almost everyone I've spoken to about it has the same thing - left boob is the gun boob, much better than the right.
How weird! I think whenever I expressed both sides got mixed together so I could never compare. I'm guessing the fat/water ratios must be different with the different volumes and maybe the difference becomes more obvious when it freezes (cause EBM always looks different frozen and defrosted as opposed to room temperature). I remember reading once that if you have oversupply you essentially have the same amount of fat in each feed as a 'normal' supply, it just get diluted with a whole lot of extra water which is why babies can drink and drink and drink the oversupply and still seem hungry....it's like skim milk! So maybe each side has the same amount of fat but more or less other stuff which gives it a different appearance?? Not saying you have over supply, just a varying supply with varying ratios.
An interesting experiment - if you had some spare EBM - would be to leave some from each side in the fridge for 24 hours and see if the ratio look vastly different once it has separated and the fat/water is easier to see.
I find sometimes one side has more 'cream' than the other (usually my right side, which is also my bigger, fuller side)
When I was expressing for my prem I found sometimes it would be left had more cream, then next feed right had more.
I've always had oversupply with my babies and even when expressing 200ml from each side for prem the midwives said it was super creamy. I've often left the milk in the fridge (sometimes on the bench if DH is going to use it reasonably soon) and seen it separate. Its interesting to see the differences!
My DD fed from both sides, but my right was always her fave. It was the side that she fell asleep on better too. Recently she told me that the left has "cow milk" in it, but the right has "mummy milk". Now, she only feeds once a day, and she always go to the right.
In saying this, both sides have nourished 2 children and the milk from both is awesome quality :lol:
I haven't been a big expresser, but have noticed that my milk can look quite different on different days. More 'cream', different colours etc. It's never worried me, cos when baby feeds at the breast i can't see what the milk is like and they never have a problem with it.
The fuller your breast, the lower the percentage of fat there is. That's really the main difference, but it does vary a bit at different times of day, et. It's totally normal for different breasts to make different amounts - most mums have a "good" side.
There's nothing actually wrong with the milk that has less fat, btw, it's all good. A lot of times mums worry about fat content and hindmilk and duration/frequency of feeds, but research tells us that whether your baby has lots of small feeds, or a few large feeds, they still all get the same amount of fat in the end. So if your baby is doing well, there's generally no need to worry about the milk - you just feed when they want to feed and it works out.