Why does breast milk separate?

[hisno1girl]

One of the ladies at work pumps and stores her little bags of milk in the fridge and by the end of the day the milk is separated. The top looks super white and heavy, almost like cream (eww) and the liquid underneath looks almost clear like water.

Why does it do that?

Obviously I can't ask her.

just curious.

[daisybuchannan]

The fatty milk separates from the non-fatty milk.

I realize that does not explain why though, lol.

[mmmomof2]

Cows milk (straight from the udder) does the same thing.

[texassmith]

It's because its not homogenized. Fat solids separate to the top. Normal, doesn't mean it is spoiled or anything.

[Deleted]

it's the cream of the crop. it rises to the top.

i never eat a pig because a pig is a cop.

[underwaterrhymes]

It's the hind milk versus the fore milk separating.

The hind milk is fattier.

[Deleted]

Science.

[hisno1girl]

May 3, 2013 21:24:40 GMT -5 @misoangry said:

Science.

Sonofabitch I thought it was magic!

[hisno1girl]

I have an overwhelming urge to shake it so it won't be separated.

I'd never do it, but I want to.

[Gato]

May 3, 2013 21:19:08 GMT -5 mmmomof2 said:

Cows milk (straight from the udder) does the same thing.

I used to drink unpasteurized milk when I was an exchange student, and you'd have to boil it first, then skim the fat off the top.  It was kind of cool and kind of gross at the same time.

[hisno1girl]

May 3, 2013 21:26:33 GMT -5 toledo said:

ok, I KNOW they have farms in Michigan.

None close to me thank goodness. Farms stink.

[mala]

Milk consists of large fatty molocules and smaller water molocules. (Plus a bunch of other things, too.) When it sits, the fat particles stick together, forming large clumps, which then rise to the top of the container. In commercial milk production, this is skimmed off to produce skim milk. To make lowfat milk, the fat that has been removed is added back into the skim milk is specific percentages. All milk, skim, lowfat, and whole, is then homogenized. The milk is forceably sprayed through a small nozzel. This breaks up the fat into pieces so small they can never reform and seperate from the rest of the milk.

All brestmilk will separate given time.

[emsumm]

Cream is ew?

[candreco]

May 4, 2013 8:33:36 GMT -5 emsumm said:

Cream is ew?

That was my first thought, lol.