info on early milk storage

I'm on a yahoo group, ukmidwifery, someone asked about breastpumps, I
responded, and as they were talking about expressing in the early days, I
encouraged her to do so, but warned her that the milk may not keep as long
and as it will contain colostrum baby might not like the taste if it's fed
later etc. all of which many people on here seem to have experienced, but
apparently my own and others experience is not enough, some people want
facts and references!

Well I can't find them, if I search for colostrum even with "-cow" it still
comes up with references for cows. A lot of other breastfeeding information
is woefully inadequate (how often do you see breastmilk can only be kept for
24 hrs in the fridge?), so it's not going to go into details of the whole
milk transition and that it may not keep for as long etc.

Any ideas?

Anne

Anne Rogers wrote:
I'm on a yahoo group, ukmidwifery, someone asked about breastpumps, I
responded, and as they were talking about expressing in the early days, I
encouraged her to do so, but warned her that the milk may not keep as long
and as it will contain colostrum baby might not like the taste if it's fed
later etc. all of which many people on here seem to have experienced, but
apparently my own and others experience is not enough, some people want
facts and references!


I searched for "breastmilk" and "human", came up with a bunch
of references and started paging through them. There wasn't
much on storage but I found the following two abstracts. I'm not
sure it really speaks to your point, but it does show that BM
changes over the first year of life, and that storing also changes
it (I know next to nothing about glutathione....):

Ankrah NA, ppiah-Opong R, Dzokoto C. Human breastmilk storage and the
glutathione content. J Trop Pediatr 2000 April;46(2):111-3.
Abstract: Human breastmilk storage for use later in infant feeding is
on the increase as a result of the economic activities of nursing
mothers. This study investigated glutathione (GSH) status of stored
human breastmilk due to its major antioxidant role and as a cofactor
for enzymes in detoxification of carcinogens. In newborns, human
breastmilk becomes an important source of dietary GSH since their GSH
synthetic capacity may not be well developed. The results showed that
the total GSH content of human breastmilk obtained from apparently
healthy lactating mothers was 192.2 +/- 148.3 mumol/l (mean +/- SD).
Early breastmilk (fed to infants up to 4 weeks old; GSH content of
252.5 +/- 173.9 mumol/l) was significantly higher (p 0.05) when
compared with their mature counterpart (milk from mothers with infants
older than 1 month of age; GSH content 163.9 +/- 128.0 mumol/l).
Substantial loss of GSH occurred when breastmilk was kept at either -20
degrees C, 4 degrees C or at room temperature for 2 h. When compared
with fresh unstored breastmilk, the extent of the loss was 80.6, 79.1
and 73.0 per cent respectively. It is suggested that feeding infants on
stored human milk could weaken the antioxidant and toxin refractory
capacity of those in early childhood

And:

Miranda M, Muriach M, Almansa I et al. Oxidative status of human milk
and its variations during cold storage. Biofactors 2004;20(3):129-37.
Abstract: Breastfeeding and human milk are widely accepted as optimal
for human infants' nutrition. Nowadays lifestyle often makes it
difficult to maintain or even initiate human lactation. This situation
is mostly related to the workload of women away from home. New
approaches are needed to enable maternal lactation under these
circumstances. Human breastmilk storage for differed use is one
possibility. The aim of this study was to assess changes in glutathione
peroxidase (GPx) activity and in the concentration of the lipid
peroxidation marker, malondialdehyde (MDA), when human milk was kept
refrigerated or frozen. Thirty-two human milk samples were assayed for
GPx activity and MDA concentration. Samples were divided in three
aliquot portions, the first to be immediately analysed, the second to
be refrigerated at 4 degrees C and analysed 24 h thereafter, and the
third to be frozen at -20 degrees C and assayed after 10 days. GPx
activity was significantly decreased in refrigerated and in frozen
milk, when compared to their control samples. MDA was increased only in
refrigerated milk but not in frozen samples. Thus, freezing seems
better than refrigeration in order to prevent lipid peroxidation in
stored human milk samples


Mary W.