When I was pumping for Peter in the NICU in 1985 and storing my milk in the
freezer along with the other moms, several of us had flourescent
orange-colored milk for the first few days, only gradually giving way to
lighter and lighter and lighter milk over the course of 3 weeks of pumping.
We used to joke about the orange sherbet (your words exactly) and the
pumpkin milk.  It didn't smell bad, though, and everyone at the NICU at
Riley Children's Hospital in Indianapolis said it was perfectly normal.
They pointed out that normally new moms don't pump in the first few weeks,
so don't know what milk is supposed to look like.  They only start pumping
when they have to go back to work, by which time the milk is "mature" and
bluish-white.  They said many many moms pumping for newborns at their NICU
had orange milk.


Katherine A. Dettwyler, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Anthropology
Texas A&M University
co-editor of "Breastfeeding: Biocultural Perspectives" and specialist in
infant feeding and growth
e-mail to [log in to unmask]