


Several hundred such postings can be found on onlythebreast.com and scores of other websites like Craigslist. Despite copious warnings from health officials, the number of such online ads hawking breast milk has grown since first appearing five years ago, according to health experts.

Many ads are straightforward, saying simply a woman is selling her breast milk. They consistently point out the mother is healthy and doesn’t have bad habits, with some even offering up health records to prove it.

The Web is not the only place – nor the safest, say experts – where parents can get breast milk. But it’s typically the cheapest. The price is $1 to $2 an ounce, versus $4 to $4.50 from nonprofit milk banks that extensively screen mothers and test the milk they offer before shipping it frozen.

When Danielle Civale heard that people were selling breast milk on the Internet, the young mother said she wasn’t surprised. You can find just about anything online these days, she said, but added, “It seems crazy.”

“I wouldn’t order anything online if I didn’t know what I was getting and where it was coming from,” said the 30-year-old Plymouth, Mass., mother. “It’s certainly not something I would feed to my baby.”

That’s exactly the problem: Mother’s milk sold online is unregulated, said Cindy Hoar, a nurse and lactation consultant at Jordan Hospital in Plymouth. “It is scary people are doing that; it’s dangerous and not appropriate. There are milk banks – we have one right here in New England – where people can get milk that has been screened and pasteurized.”

Health experts say breast milk bought online – or even from a well-meaning friend, with all sorts of assurances – cannot be considered safe, as babies have especially vulnerable immune systems. Human breast milk can, like other bodily fluids, transmit HIV, hepatitis and other viruses.

Civale, who gave birth on May 31 and began breastfeeding, is able to produce an ample supply herself. But other parents cannot – perhaps for medical reasons, or because they have adopted. Some cancer patients believe breast milk can boost their immune systems. Whatever their reason, perhaps cost or convenience, some are tempted to turn to the Internet.

The first such listings – on eBay in 2005 – became national news. “Then eBay quickly took them down,” said Naomi Bar-Yam, executive director of the Mothers Milk Bank of New England based in Newtonville, Mass.

Bar-Yam’s nonprofit group began two years ago, as one of just 12 in the United States in addition to two in Canada. Its milk is donated by mothers, is tested, and then given to other parents with a doctor’s prescription.

“How do you know (milk bought online) has been stored properly?” said Hoar. “It could be contaminated at any point along the supply chain -- tampered with.”

As head of the La Leche League in Massachusetts, Morgan Henderson is among the biggest advocates for breast milk, which the American Academy of Pediatrics deems preferable to formula. But not so much that it is worth buying online, she said.

“You don’t know what’s in the other mother’s system,” she said. “Did she take recreational drugs and not think to mention it? What medications did she use? Some things transmit to the baby’s system, and some don’t, but how do you know unless it is tested.”

Patriot Ledger writer Sue Scheible may be reached at sscheible@ledger.com.

Naomi Bar-Yam, with Mothers Milk Bank of New England, on the risks of online sales.Click center arrow to listen.


Q: Who is selling breast milk on the Internet? Why?

A: Nursing mothers who have an excess of milk and do not want it to go to waste. Some want to help other mothers, while others are interested in making extra money.

Q: How common is the practice?

A: Lactation consultants and those at milk banks say people have been selling breast milk – online, often from far away to total strangers – since 2005. And the practice appears to be increasing, experts say.

Q: Why is it controversial?

A: Because lactation experts say unscreened and untested milk isn’t safe, potentially imperiling infants whose immature immune systems are vulnerable. Milk is a bodily fluid that can transmit bacteria, some viruses and illnesses – even if an unsuspecting mother thinks she is healthy. Medicines and illegal drugs can also pass through milk.

Q: Who buys breast milk online? Why?

A: Often, it’s mothers who aren’t producing enough of their own milk, who cannot use breast pumps, or who have twins, triplets or more and can’t keep up. Some such mothers may be on medications or recovering from surgery and can’t make milk themselves. Adoptive parents, who prefer breast milk to formula, may also buy it. And some parents seek it out since their children are allergic to formula. Lastly, some cancer patients believe that breast milk boosts their immune systems.

Q: How long has the sharing of human milk been going on?

A: Women have shared milk for thousands of years. It is a long tradition in some cultures, seen as an honorable way to earn a living. Before the Internet, though, at least parents knew the woman who was supplying their child’s milk. Some cultures have ethical qualms with selling or buying human milk, similar to other body tissues or organs.

Q. What is a mothers' milk bank?

A. Nonprofit organizations collect, process, test and distribute donated human milk. Some milk banks are affiliated with hospitals; others are independent.

Q: How many are there and where?

A: There are 12 in the United States, two in Canada.

Q: Why do mothers want human breast milk and not specialized formulas?

A: Human milk’s main purpose is to nourish human babies, with pediatricians seeing it as the best option because it is easy to digest, gives immunity protection and has optimal nutrition. Specialized formulas for premature babies are modified from cows' milk, and they can be harsh on the digestive systems of premature newborns.

Q: What is a specific example of a benefit of human milk over the formula milk?

A: Necrotizing enterocolitis, a severe diarrhea that can be fatal, is 10 to 17 percent more likely to arise if a premature infant receives formula. This illness can lead to lifelong gastrointestinal problems and is largely preventable by feeding babies human milk.

Q. In milk banks, you don’t know where the milk is coming from. Why is it safer?

A: Many steps are taken to ensure banked milk is safe. Donors are screened through an interview regarding their health behaviors (such as drug use), letters from their physician and their baby’s physician, and blood tests to detect communicable diseases.

The milk is heat-treated (pasteurized) and must show no bacterial growth. It is shipped frozen overnight.

In more than 40 years, there has never been a case of an infant being harmed by donor milk that’s affiliated with the Human Milk Banking Association of North America.

Q. How much does banked milk cost? Who pays for it? Do donors profit from it?

A: Donors are not paid for their milk. Milk banks pay for donor blood tests, processing and shipping of milk to the bank. Processing fees are $4 to $4.50 per ounce for banked milk, plus shipping.

Q: Will health insurance cover it?

A: Insurance companies in New England do not routinely pay for banked milk. However, sometimes they cover the milk on a case-by-case basis.

Q. Is it cost effective?

A: Milk bank advocates insist it is, if compared to what it would cost to treat, for instance, severe diarrhea or necrotizing enterocolitis – which could increase a baby’s hospital stay by two weeks at an additional cost of $128,000 to $238,000.

Q. How do you get banked milk?

A: Banked milk is given out if a patient has a doctor’s prescription or a hospital buys it. Once the milk bank receives the order, it is shipped frozen over night packed in dry ice.

Q: What must donor mothers do?

A: Donor mothers are women who are currently lactating and have surplus milk. They must: Give a short medical history on the phone; complete a written health history; drop off their first donation of milk at the milk bank; take a blood test.

They must be in good general health, non-smokers, willing to undergo a blood test at the milk bank's expense and not regularly use medication or herbal supplements (with exceptions, like progestin-only birth control, insulin and prenatal vitamins). They must be willing to donate at least 100 ounces of milk and have a baby under one year old.

Those interested in giving can call 781-535-7594 or e-mail info@milkbankne.org.

Q: What would disqualify a donor mother?

A: A woman would not be a suitable donor if she has a positive blood test result for HIV, HTLV, hepatitis B or C, or syphilis; if she or her sexual partner is at risk for HIV; if she uses illegal drugs; if she smokes or uses tobacco products; if she has received an organ or tissue transplant or a blood transfusion in the last 12 months, or if she regularly has two ounces or more of alcohol per day.

Q: Can a donor mother live anywhere?

A: A donor mother is ruled out if she has been in the United Kingdom for more than three months or in Europe for more than three years since 1980, or if she was born in or has traveled to Cameroon, Central Africa Republic, Chad, Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Niger or Nigeria.

Q: Is it safe to buy or borrow used breast pumps?

A: Used breast pumps are advertised online, but experts do not feel they are safe to use. That is because the equipment can also transmit bacteria and viruses (much like shared breast milk) if not properly sterilized.

Source: Mothers Milk Bank of New England; Human Milk Bank of Northeast America; Jordan Hospital Lactation Center; Dr. Kathleen Marinetti; Naomi Bar-Yam; Cindy Hoar