Wednesday, October 3, 2012

Buying and Selling Breastmilk!?

I knew that women donated their breast milk, but the concept of buying and selling breastmilk through classified ads is something I have been hearing more about recently and I honestly was a little surprised by! Really....you just go on craigslist and buy some random woman's breastmilk to feed your baby?? I don't know why this seems somewhat strange to me! Anyone else?

I only found one posting locally on craigslist for breastmilk, but I did a search and there are plenty of sites out there where you can buy and sell breastmilk only!
Here are a couple:
http://www.onlythebreast.com/
http://www.sellingbreastmilk.com/

You can also donate to a milk bank. Milk banks use the donated milk to sell to hospitals for ill or premature babies in the NICU (something I didn't know...hmmm). They also use the milk to produce their own nutritional formulations that the hospitals will use.

So who can donate?

Almost any nursing mother can donate. If you are healthy with a good medical history, you are a likely candidate. You will need to complete a medical survey, get medical confirmation from your doctor and your baby's pediatrician, have your blood tested for diseases and give a cheek cell sample, all at no cost to you. You will be informed of any test results that would indicate a health problem so that you can follow up with your doctor. If all of your results are fine, you can begin to donate breast milk.

I am definitely a fan of breastfeeding! I did it with both of my children, but only lasted about 4 months with each. It seemed that as soon as I went back to work and started pumping I stopped making milk. I also have a theory that women with small breasts simply don't make as much! :) I even tried a prescription last time because I really really wanted to last longer, but I was only getting 1 oz every time I pumped! It didn't help much. After having the bottle and having to work so hard to get anything from me, my daughter didn't want anything to do with me!

I still am not sure I would buy someone else's milk?? I really can't fully wrap my brain around it. How do you feel about it? I'm curious if others would buy? I think I would sell my milk in a heartbeat! I totally get it...free money...why not? The ABC piece I watched (link below) said that a woman can make $20,000 a year selling her breast milk! Are you kidding?? You've got to watch this! I also don't mean to judge, but I think these women prove my theory. These women all look to have huge breasts! Not fair!
http://abcnews.go.com/US/moms-sell-excess-breast-milk-cash-internet/story?id=13768179

Another article...
http://www.breastfeed.com/news/selling-breast-milk

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