Isn't it interesting that we have Nikki's mom with the "funny" smelling milk
and Phyllis' mom with the "foul" milk from one breast only at the same time
here on Lactnet?
I have only lowly "anecdotal evidence" on which to base my thinking; hoping
to learn from others with more knowledge on these two. I've known several
women with the "funny-smelling" milk that Nikki describes, and they've
nursed their babies without problems; once found a mom who had smelly, kind
of greenish milk when she had a candida infection, and it cleared up, but
I've seen lots of kind of funky milk. As long as mom & baby check out OK,
and baby accepts it & continues to thrive (always, in the women I've seen),
it just seems to be "one of those things".

I have known one woman who had what sounds like the same situation as
Phyllis' one-sided foul-smelling milk with persistent refusal of that
breast. That woman did turn out to have breast cancer, well-advanced by the
time it was diagnosed, and she died when the baby was about 7 months old
(leaving 8 other kids behind - so sad!)  The cancer was hard to diagnose,
for some reason I can't recall, and the baby's absolute and persistent
refusal to take the affected breast was the only sign she had that all was
not well - she was an experienced, dedicated long-term breastfeeder, and she
kept saying that she "just knew this wasn't right".

Seems to me like the baby's response to the milk is really key. But why?
What's going on with the milk that lets the babies accept the stinky but not
harmful milk (of course, lots of babies will take formula, too, so how much
could they know?) and reject bad-smelling side in the case of cancer? Anyone
know?

Cathy Bargar, RN, IBCLC
PS - Phyllis, please keep us posted! I'll be thinking a lot about "your"
mom, and hoping all is well. Let her know our prayers are with her, OK?