Beware the Breast Milk Sold Online

While America debates whether or not women should breastfeed in public, some women wish they could be a part of the argument.

Many new moms, for a variety of reasons, cannot breastfeed their babies. The issue increasingly has families turning to breast milk banks to obtain natural milk for their infants and if not there, then online. But how safe is that milk you might be buying?

A recent investigation by “Inside Edition” might have you thinking twice before ever purchasing over the Internet, or any other way, again.

The program purchased milk from eight different people from across the country. Six packages were shipped overnight — some were shipped frozen and others just cold. The show met two people in person to procure the milk.

Of the eight total samples collected and tested by Dr. David Newburg, a breast milk expert, seven were found unfit to feed to an infant. Dr. Newburg reported that 87 percent of the samples contained gram negative bacteria, which could make an infant sick.

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The U.S. Food and Drug Administration recommends that people purchase breast milk through milk banks, which screen and pasteurize it to eliminate harmful bacteria.

Is Online Breast Milk All Bad?
Newborn’s findings aren’t the first when it comes to potentially harmful ingredients in breast milk sold online.

Dr. Sarah Keim, a principal investigator for The Research Institute at Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Columbus, Ohio, found in a 2013 study that samples obtained online actually contained cow’s milk or baby formula.

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Keim’s research team bought and tested 101 samples of breast milk that were advertised on a milk-sharing website. The researchers found bacterial or viral contamination in 75 percent of the milk samples, and 10 percent of the samples contained cow’s milk, which can be harmful to infants.

Keim’s study was the first to confirm the FDA’s 2010 warning of possible contaminants in unpasteurized human milk obtained from sources other than the baby’s mother.

“Based on our research, we do not think it’s safe to buy breast milk online,” Keim told LifeZette. 

In addition to any bacterial or viral contaminants, she added there can be other concerns for babies.

“The majority of sellers indicated in their advertisements that they abstained from at least some kinds of drugs, although many statements about being ‘drug free’ were too vague to determine whether the women meant illicit drugs, pharmaceuticals or both,” Keim said in a statement. “We tested for commonly abused drugs, but larger future studies are needed to confirm our findings and to test for a greater range of drugs.”

A Donor’s Perspective
Cheryl Jones (not her real name) of Clinton, Iowa, has donated her breast milk via the Internet since her son was born a year-and-a-half ago. She has also given freely to babies who needed milk and mothers who could not afford it. Jones also works through a breast milk bank to sell her milk for $1 an ounce.

“I spend hours each day pumping, cleaning and sterilizing to ensure that it is safe for the babies I donate to,” she told LifeZette. She said she spends her own money to buy bags, pumping supplies and the extra food required to supply 30 to 40 ounces of extra milk to infants in need.

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“My own baby has never had a bottle and I have no reason to pump, except for donation,” she said. “I say donation because even as a paid donor it costs me — it takes time from my children, and I would not be able to continue supplying milk to babies in need if I were working. So it also costs me a salary.”

She believes that a lot needs to change in the world of breastfeeding in order to make breast milk more accessible. There is a lack of breast milk for babies who need it, she added.

“Finding a free donor can be difficult but paid donors will typically continue to donate long term,” she said. She believes that paid donors are an asset because they resupply milk banks so premature infants who need the milk most can have it — something that may even save their lives.

And that is where Newburg and other researchers agree women may want to focus.

“The safest way to get human milk is through a milk bank that is part of the Human Milk Banking Association of North America,” he told LifeZette. The members of the milk bank follow strict guidelines for safety and ethical procedures, including pasteurizing and testing the milk.

“The milk is all donated by mothers who have been thoroughly screened for infectious diseases,” he added. “I would be sad if any mothers decided not to breast feed or provide human milk on the basis of what we found in Internet milk.”