BUYING breast milk is almost as easy as popping to the shop for a pint of semi-skimmed.
Simply place an order online at Only The Breast, then wait for your special delivery.It’s estimated cash-strapped mums earn more than £10,000 a year by selling their excess milk over the internet, though many choose to donate it to the NHS.
Onlythebreast.co.uk have several categories including milk from mothers with fat babies, those on a special diet or those “willing to sell to men”.
Here, three nursing mums tell how they have been pumping out a profit – and we talk to the health experts who warn buyers to beware
Claire Thompson
CLAIRE, 21, lives in Glasgow with her partner, Patrick, 23, who is an engineer. Claire is on maternity leave from her job in administration and looking after their four-month-old daughter, Lucy. She says:“I had one call from a lady who wanted my breast milk for her husband, who she said was suffering from multiple sclerosis.
Apparently, the nutrients and antibodies in breast milk can help people with MS but just the thought of it made me feel a bit queasy, so I said no.
I won’t sell my breast milk to men.
I have discovered there are some quite perverted people out there and I have become a bit wary of answering my phone since placing the advert.
I have loads of extra breast milk and would be quite happy to give it away to a hospital for free but I’m not sure if anywhere would take it.
My motivation for doing this is twofold. I want to help other women and the money is useful but that is secondary to my desire to provide a useful service.
Milking it ... Claire Thompson helped a woman who couldn't breastfeed after cancer treatment
I express the extra milk using a pump then store it frozen in breast milk bags.
At the moment the website seems to run on trust — that the women selling their milk are healthy and don’t have any infectious diseases.
I know I don’t smoke or drink but how do the women buying my milk know I am telling the truth? I think it would be much better if there was some kind of screening process. My partner Patrick was worried at first because he thought — rightly, as it turned out — I might have some calls from weirdos.
But I will persevere because I like to think my milk is going to a good cause.”
Jelena Harris
RESTAURANT supervisor Jelena, 28, is on maternity leave. She has a two-week-old daughter, Annabelle, and a daughter, Nicole, two, and lives in Street, Somerset, with husband Daniel, 24, who is the general manager of a restaurant. She says:“From the moment Annabelle was born I was bulging with milk. I was producing far more than I could ever feed to her.
Daniel and I talked about it and he said maybe I could sell my milk. He went online and found the Only The Breast website.
This was only two weeks ago but I am getting lots of enquiries and already I have sold 100oz at £1 an ounce, which is great money.
I express the milk then store it in breast-milk bags in my freezer. I have lots in store, which could be worth a fortune.
I am a healthy non-drinker and non-smoker and my midwife had commented on how thick and creamy my milk seems to be.
Waste not, want not ... Jelena Harris says she produces more than Annabelle needs
Adam Gasson
I had just as much milk when I had my daughter, Nicole, but at the time there was nowhere you could sell your milk. Only The Breast is a website which has been set up here from America and it seems to be attracting a lot of attention.
I haven’t had any odd enquiries yet but there is a section on the website which says: “Willing to sell to men.”
I wouldn’t have a problem with that — apparently breast milk can help with all kinds of medical conditions.
I now have more than 200oz of my milk stored in our freezer and I am making more all the time.
Daniel is being very supportive about it all. This will bring us in money without any cost to us. All I have to do is package up the milk and send it off.
I love the idea that I could be giving another baby a very healthy start in life, using milk that I don’t need for my own family.”
Bottle bank ... Jelena Harris loves helping to give other babies a healthy start in life
Adam Gasson
Aliesha Jones
HAIRDRESSER Aliesha, 21, lives in Harlow, Essex, with her handyman partner, Michael, 25, their son, Mayson, three, and four-month-old daughter, Casey. She says:“Since posting my advertisement for breast milk on the Only The Breast website I have had some weird enquiries.
One man rang me to say that he had been left with a three-week-old baby when his wife walked out on him.
Alarm bells were already beginning to ring that this wasn’t quite right when he asked if he could come round and watch me express the milk in person.
I told my partner, Michael, and he said: “Absolutely no way!” I am selling my milk at 50p an ounce and last week I sold more than 100oz to a lady who couldn’t produce her own milk. She lived nearby so I sent it over by courier in frozen breast-milk bags, making £50.
Cash-strapped ... Aliesha Jones says selling milk helps her pay bills
John McLellan
The milk pours out of me like a shower and it seems such a waste to just throw it away. I express using either a pump or simply by collecting the milk in a bowl.
When I heard that I could sell my breast milk online it sounded like such a good idea. Other women need the milk and I was just soaking through breast pads and throwing them away.
The money is really helpful, as we are very short of cash at the moment and Michael has to take any job going. Some people might think it is a weird thing to do but I don’t see what is wrong with it.
I have the milk and other women want it, so why not?
I do draw the line though at selling my breast milk to men — there are some very odd people out there.
I am a healthy non-smoker and I know that my milk is pure.
I had just as much milk when I had my son, Mayson. I fed him for six months then stopped but my breasts kept producing milk until he was two and I was pregnant with my daughter, Casey.
If I carry on producing like this there is the possibility of making several thousand pounds from a substance I am producing naturally.”
Got milk ... Aliesha Jones expresses and freezes extra pints
John McLellan
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