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Breast Milk For Sale-- Milk Banks, Wet Nurses and Casual Sharing

January 16, 2007

The Washington Post has an excellent story today on the growing trend of alternative ways to feed your baby breast milk, even if you aren't breastfeeding. The piece, "Banking on Milk: Options Are Growing for Women Who Can't Breast-Feed," covers all its bases-- non-profit and for-profit milk banks, wet nursing and cross nursing.

Breast milk, touted by the government and even formula-makers as the best food for babies, is becoming a hot commodity. Ten nonprofit milk banks that match donors to those searching for milk are accredited members of the Human Milk Banking Association of North America (HMBANA). For-profit milk banks and wet nurses for hire are also available. Countless other private transactions go on, many facilitated by the Internet, creating a sisterhood among strangers. Some moms "cross-nurse" with babies of friends and relatives.

But the milk-sharing movement, still largely an underground network, brings up many questions. First, there is worry about the safety of unscreened milk, which can pass diseases such as HIV and syphilis to babies. Others debate ethical concerns, such as whether people should make money selling human milk and how such businesses should be regulated.

Best of all, Jennifer of The Lactivist is quoted in the article!