Can You Sell Your Extra Breast Milk?

Steve Sands
The other day I opened up our freezer and noticed that half the space was being taken up by my wife's breast milk. We have another mini-freezer out in the garage that is starting to fill up with breast milk too. At the rate that my wife is producing milk (compared with the rate at which our baby consumes it), we are continuously building an oversupply of breast milk. So this has made us wonder, "Can you sell your oversupply of breast milk?"

At first, this seemed like a logical idea. There are probably a lot of women who can't produce enough milk and some of them would probably pay to get breast milk for their babies. But then we started thinking about it more. Would we buy breast milk from a stranger? How would you know the breast milk is "good"...i.e. free from any diseases? What if it was stored incorrectly or contaminated in some way? After thinking about this, we concluded that there just wouldn't be a market for breast milk. Besides, selling breast milk is probably illegal, like selling body parts.

Well, it turns out that we were wrong. Apparently people do sell their extra beast milk and there are people who buy it. Although it is definitely not "mainstream" to sell breast milk, it does happen. I have read that there have been eBay listings for breast milk as well as listings on Craigslist. I do know that it is against Craigslist policy to post listings for any bodily fluids, so they would probably take a listing for breast milk down. I'm not as familiar with eBay policy. There was a story of a woman in Iowa who took out a classified ad to sell her breast milk. Apparently selling breast milk is not illegal in Iowa (at least as of the time of the story, which was November, 2007).

I'm still amazed that a mother would feed her baby breast milk that was purchased from a stranger...I know we would never do that. But then again, maybe there aren't too many mothers who would do this. Because apparently, the buyers of breast milk are often times men who have a weird breast milk fetish! When we found this out, it was disturbing enough to make us decide we would not post any ads to sell my wife's breast milk.

The more "accepted" way to unload an oversupply of breast milk is to donate it to an appropriate organization. These organizations can take the milk and make sure it is ok for consumption, then provide it to babies in need. I've heard that these places that take donated breast milk are not always charities. They can be companies that take your donation, do the necessary testing/processing, then turn around and sell it. But wait a minute...if these companies are making a profit on the breast milk, shouldn't the people who donate it be able to sell it to the companies? This just seems a little odd.

In the meantime, we are running out of storage space. So we'll probably end up donating our oversupply to a hospital or some charity that takes breast milk. But I'm still curious about these companies that profit from donated milk. Perhaps some further research is in order...

22 Comments

Post a Comment
  • K&M9/21/2010

    I should mention that milkshare.com is a place for those seeking milk and donating milk... and it's FREE! No selling of breast milk allowed.

  • K&M9/21/2010

    Next time, you can donate the breast milk on milkshare.com

  • Extra milk9/21/2010

    I am 27 years old and have two healthy children. I am overproducing and have a deep freezer full of milk. I freeze in 6 oz bags. I do not smoke, drink or do drugs and I am STD free. I can be tested at buyers expense for confirmation of this. I am asking $1.50 an oz. I will sell frozen or fresh milk as I pump daily. If you are interested or have any questions email extramilk1@hotmail.com

  • Amber5/4/2010

    Hello Everyone I thought I should share this website with all of you it is a Community to Buy and Sell Breast milk with Forums and Classifieds. So if your interested in either buying or selling its a good site to check out. Also its broken down into Mom's Selling Milk Listings and then by who your willing to sell to weather only mothers or if your willing to sell to Men, then there is the Buyers Listings for people who are looking to buy the milk to make postings letting people know that they would like to buy milk it's where the Mother's or Males can state what kind of milk they are looking for (Special Diets like Vegetarian, Screened Milk, Local Milk or by age of the child they are looking to feed) http://www.onlythebreast.com/

  • Only the Breast2/16/2010

    Selling breast milk is legal in most states. California and New York are the only two states that I'm currently aware of that have restrictions - check your local laws. You can place an ad for breast milk for sale or wanted here at www.onlythebreast.com

  • Colorado Mommy12/18/2009

    I was thinking of selling my breastmilk however is this legal?

  • mommy11/27/2009

    UPDATE: I now have a clips site where you can purchase short clips of me pumping, squirting, or self nursing. http://www.clips4sale.com/store/34391/

    A little about me, I am a 23 year old first time mom of a 1 year old. I am drug and smoke free. I do have the ocassional glass of wine with dinner. I have no diseases and take only prenatals but sometimes forget to take it. I produce about 30-40 ounces a day and freeze almost all of it because my son is weaned to almost all whole milk. He only gets 5 ounces of breastmilk a day. I plan to pump for the next year or so. I ask $2 an ounce for frozen and $3 for fresh. Buyer pays all shipping costs. I can calculate the exact cost if you give me a zip code. I also sell pictures of me pumping/squirting. And videos of me pumping/squirting. e-mail me at mommysmilk@hotmail.com for more info. I live in MN

  • Momma11/16/2009

    I have breatmilk for sale. I am a 35 year old healthy mom of a 2 month old. I will be pumping until Sept 2010. I dont drink, smoke, take drugs, or even drink caffiene. I do take prenatal vitamins. I will sell in 2.3 oz snappies containers for $4each or in Lansinoh storage bags for 1.50per oz plus shipping. Email me at mommasmilk@gmail.com

  • S11/14/2009

    I'm interested in selling some breast milk, as well. I have a 9 month old and have extra.

    I don't drink, smoke or take drugs, other than a prenatal daily and a couple tylenol once in a while.

    I have no dietary restrictions, so if there's a lactose ntolerance, etc, my mlk wouldn't be best.

    I'm in Colorado, but will ship @ buyer's expense.

    E-mail me @ ask_me233@yahoo.com with any questions or more info.

  • Nimi9/21/2009

    I also have a lot of breastmilk, more than my Baby is consuming. I live a very healthy life. I am in Denver, Colorado. nimi40@hotmail.com

Displaying Comments
Next »

To comment, please sign in to your Yahoo! account, or sign up for a new account.