Lactating Mom Drops Ad Selling Breast Milk

Local6 ^ | 11/10/03 | AP

[Tumbleweed_Connection]

It was an ad for a different sort of milk.

A Salt Lake City woman bought a classified newspaper ad offering to sell her extra breast milk.

The 23-year-old unidentified woman said she was just trying to help. But she's withdrawn her offer after getting too many prank calls.

The nursing mom said one man wanted to know if it came in chocolate. Another said he wanted an endless supply for protein drinks.

The woman wanted $1 an ounce or $350 for 400 ounces.

Now, she's out of the milk business and so is The Salt Lake Tribune. The paper said it will not accept any more ads offering breast milk for sale.

[Az Joe]

What udder nonsense.

[honeygrl]

Now why didn't I think of this? I could be rich!!

[HEY4QDEMS]

Interesting story. Please keep be abreast of the situation.

[zarf]

The nursing mom said one man wanted to know if it came in chocolate.

I love that dude.

[martin_fierro]

A woman of Greater Salt Lake
an entrepreneurial chance did take
But all was for naught,
her product unbought;
No one wanted to buy her lactate.

[concerned about politics]

This story is a hoot(er).

[martin_fierro]

Wotta boob.

[birdsman]

What parent in their right mind would feed another woman's milk to their baby? There would be no way of being certain that the milk wasn't tainted by some disease that the milk provider might have.

[NicknamedBob]

"The paper said it will not accept any more ads offering breast milk for sale."

I suppose these people need to be 'wetnursed' through the history of this.

[NicknamedBob]

"What parent in their right mind would feed another woman's milk to their baby?"

And sterilizing is of course, very painful.

[Catspaw]

What parent in their right mind would feed another woman's milk to their baby?

Some breastfeeding moms donate that little bit extra to neo-natal centers. Some preemies cannot tolerate formula.

[honeygrl]

"What parent in their right mind would feed another woman's milk to their baby? There would be no way of being certain that the milk wasn't tainted by some disease that the milk provider might have. "

Apparently quite a few do. Some places have milk banks for women to donate breastmilk to be fed to preemie babies who really need it. A long time ago people had "wet nurses" who would breastfeed their child when/if they couldn't. I would assume that anyone donating or selling it would be willing to prove they don't have any diseases and be drug tested.

[sittnick]

There are a lot of children who are adopted or whose mothers can't lactate. Some of these children are allergic to anything BUT the real thing. The real thing is better nutritionally than any formula as well.

Getting the real thing through milk banks that are monitored is prohibitively expensive.

I know one woman who was pumping, anticipating an adoption. The adoption fell through, and she will be giving away thousands of dollars of the stuff for free to a needy family in a nearby town. (The milk has a freezer life of 3-6 months)

So, the lady in Salt Lake City was not being goofy or out of line. She probably could have found a better venue than the classifieds to make her offer, however.

There are ways to find out about the "milk provider". For instance, if she is looking to adopt, then there is a home study, which means there is a medical report. That can be provided. It is also easy to meet people and size them up. Taking a chance on tainted milk that the baby needs is better than providing formula to a baby who cannot tolerate it.

[HamiltonJay]

Wet Nurses used to be common, before the advent of formula. In fact my wife's grandmother used to sell brest milk to the hospital when she was younger.

[MineralMan]

"What parent in their right mind would feed another woman's milk to their baby? There would be no way of being certain that the milk wasn't tainted by some disease that the milk provider might have."

Happens all the time. Some infants are intolerant of cow's milk, and even goat milk. Human milk is the only way to insure that they thrive. There are milk banks in every large city and in many smaller ones. Moms with excess milk provide it to these banks and moms who can't produce their own feed their babies with it.

Charging for your own milk seems a bit over the top, though.

[ClintonBeGone]

I know one woman who was pumping, anticipating an adoption. The adoption fell through, and she will be giving away thousands of dollars of the stuff for free to a needy family in a nearby town. (The milk has a freezer life of 3-6 months)

Popsickles

[sittnick]

Very cute, but in this case they would be "momsicles", no?