How Can I Sell My Breast Milk? Here's What Nursing Moms Should Know

Breast milk is without a doubt a hot commodity. I mean, it's not called "liquid gold" for nothing. And since there's more than one way to start a family and feed a baby — from IVF to surrogacy to adoption to combo-feeding and supplementing with formula — there's now a marketplace for breast milk like never before. So, if you're one of those mamas who produces more milk than her baby can use, and you're interested in helping those who can't breastfeed but want to feed their baby beast milk, you might be wondering, "How can I sell my breast milk?"

The short answer? Well, there isn't one. In fact, thanks to the wonder of technology, you can actually sell your breast milk through a variety of sites online. However, breast milk is considered a bodily fluid, which some sites prohibit the sale of. For instance, according to Pennyhoarder, a site that helps you find creative ways to save or earn money, eBay.com and Craigslist do not allow the sale of bodily fluids. However, the breast milk selling site Only the Breast is apparently "the Craigslist of breast milk," according to a recent profile in Wired magazine.

Only the Breast, according to Wired, makes selling your breast milk almost as easy as picking up that vintage couch from a seller on Craigslist. You can create an account for free, and post an ad detailing what kind and how much breast milk you have for sale, and for what price. Very similarly to Craigslist, though, Only the Breast doesn't provide much more than an avenue to advertise your breast milk for sale. That means you'll be dealing directly with a potential breast milk buyer once they respond to your ad.

Only the Breast does provide quite a few tips for how to protect yourself and promote your breast milk well. The site encourages users to set up a separate free email account only used for selling your breast milk, which prevents potential buyers from knowing your true email address. Likewise, the site encourages users to only accept payment via Paypal, and breast milk can be packaged and mailed so that sellers and buyers never have to interact at all. However, if you aren't interested in packaging and mailing breast milk, Only the Breast can link you with potential buyers in your local area so that you can meet up in person.

One of the nice things about Only the Breast is that it also provides an opportunity for women who can't afford to shell out the common price of $2.50 an ounce for breast milk to ask for donations. If don't need to make extra money from your breast milk, you can easily find someone who is in need of breast milk for their baby and connect with them. Likewise, if you're looking to donate your breast milk, you can visit Milkbank.org to find a local milk bank that can deliver your breast milk to fragile babies in need.

What kind of information will you need to give in order to sell your breast milk online? Only the Breast suggests you explain how old your baby is (or explain that you are a surrogate still pumping, which appears to be fairly common), how healthy he or she is, and confirm that you don't do drugs, drink alcohol, or use excessive caffeine in your ad.

Breastfeedingmomsunite.com seems to provide a similar service to those interested in buying and selling breast milk, but Only the Breast appears to be more well-known.

Of course, selling a bodily fluid can also bring out some other characters. It is, after all, the internet! Only the Breast suggests that if you are not interested in being contacted by men looking to buy breast milk, or someone looking to use breast milk for another reason than feeding their baby, you should explain that explicitly in your ad to keep the odd emails from hitting your inbox.

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