'Why I sell my breast milk to strangers'

Nodger · 12/10/15 - 20:52

Just saw this on the BBC website:

'Why I sell my breast milk to strangers'

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-34467613

I'm open minded, I appreciate that there is every kind of person out there, but this is a bit "WTF" for me (not the sellers, cash in I say, but the potential buyers).

NaturalDancer · 12/10/15 - 20:55

Nodger wrote: »

Just saw this on the BBC website:

'Why I sell my breast milk to strangers'

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-34467613

I'm open minded, I appreciate that there is every kind of person out there, but this is a bit "WTF" for me (not the sellers, cash in I say, but the potential buyers).

I've heard of people making ice-cream with it ^_^

Nodger · 12/10/15 - 20:58

NaturalDancer wrote: »

I've heard of people making ice-cream with it ^_^

Yeh, heard that too, also a bit weird for me. I suppose one can't deny it's definitely fit for human consumption.

Aneechik · 12/10/15 - 21:03

It would have used a lot less of the BBC's bandwidth to just say "money".

Fizix · 12/10/15 - 21:04

She sells her breast milk to strangers because there are people out there who are odd enough to buy it 😷

Hypnodisc · 12/10/15 - 21:06

Nodger wrote: »

Yeh, heard that too, also a bit weird for me. I suppose one can't deny it's definitely fit for human consumption.

It's not under these conditions though.

Tests on 12 breast milk samples bought online for a BBC Inside Out investigation found four contained E.coli, two of them contained candida, which causes thrush, and one contained pseudomonas aeruginosa, a bacteria linked to the death of four babies in neonatal units in Belfast in 2012.

I don't have any problem with breast milk. I don't see it as 'taboo' in the way other people do. It's literally the milk of life, and it's completely natural. It sort of makes sense that it's valuable and desirable.

But this process of bottling it under less-than-perfect amateur conditions, keeping it in domestic freezers and posting it across the country is creating real, inherent dangers.

JurassicMark · 12/10/15 - 21:08

Not that weird really when you consider that most of us drink cows milk, which nature intended to be for calves consumption.

Hypnodisc · 12/10/15 - 21:09

JurassicMark wrote: »

Not that weird really when you consider that most of us drink cows milk, which nature intended to be for calves consumption.

Exactly this. I don't see why human milk is any more unusual than animal milk.

People do get hung up on some funny concepts.

skp20040 · 12/10/15 - 22:08

Hypnodisc wrote: »

Exactly this. I don't see why human milk is any more unusual than animal milk.

People do get hung up on some funny concepts.

As has been said though, it is not so much the concept (well it might be to some and I wouldn't want it personally ) it is how it is packaged , stored and posted out that could lead to serious health problems at least with cows milk we know the process is regulated and in the main it is safe .

Alan1981 · 12/10/15 - 22:19

You just know this stuff is being consumed by creepy old men.

KarlSomething · 12/10/15 - 23:43

Nodger wrote: »

Yeh, heard that too, also a bit weird for me. I suppose one can't deny it's definitely fit for human consumption.

Processed cow milk is safer. And really is fit for European consumption, having lived with it for quite some time, and evolved to adapt to it (i.e. those who couldn't tolerate it didn't do so well). While we've adapted the cows through selective breeding to be milk producing machines.

Breastfeeding biological mothers will have already shared their flora with the baby, so there's not much to do about that. But we don't know what kind of germs they could be spreading to others if it isn't properly tested.

And she apparently doesn't care about that at all.

"I thought about donating it to a hospital but there was a screening process and I didn't want to go through that. So I thought 'if I've got it spare, why not?'"

Iqoniq · 12/10/15 - 23:49

Fizix wrote: »

She sells her breast milk to strangers because there are people out there who are odd enough to buy it 😷

At least she's not selling "worn panties". Mind you, I kind of get the feeling that it could be a profitable second business, as I guess she already has the right type of client.

Paul237 · 13/10/15 - 00:00

I don't really get why a woman would keep producing breast milk to sell if most of her customers were middle aged men.

They say they do it to help other women/parents, but if someone who clearly wasn't a parent of a newborn turned up at your doorstep, it'd be pretty obvious that your original aim wasn't being fulfilled.

That leads me to believe that some do it purely for the money -- which is fine if they just admitted that...

Bex_123 · 13/10/15 - 00:10

I love how, on the website, the "men buying breast milk" category is by far the busiest one...

Buying Breast Milk (690)

0-2 Month Babies (71)
2-6 Month Babies (86)
6+ Month Babies (33)
For Premature Birth (31)
Fresh on Demand Wanted (29)
Local Buyers (101)
Men Buying Breast Milk (236)
Seeking Donations (68)
Sick Babies in Need (18)
Special Diet (Vegan Etc) Needed (17)

Hypnodisc · 13/10/15 - 00:18

Paul237 wrote: »

That leads me to believe that some do it purely for the money -- which is fine if they just admitted that...

Reading the BBC article it seems obvious that's the reason. The lady mainly featured isn't pretending it's for some altruistic reason, and it is referred to as a sideline money-maker.

Shortly after posting the advertisement, Miss Biddle made her first sale - £60 for 30 ounces - and gave out her address for it to be collected.
"It was a man in his 50s/60s," she said.
"He knocked on my door and said 'I am here to buy the breast milk'.
"I invited him into the kitchen and asked if he had a cool box. He bagged it up and gave me the money."
Miss Biddle, who gave birth to her son Noah seven months ago, said most of the email inquiries came from men.
She said there had been a mixed reaction from friends and family to her sideline money-maker.
"When I brought it up with my friends they initially thought it was weird," she said.
"They said they could not do it because 'you don't know what's it's being used for'. But as long as it does not involve me I don't really care."
She added: "I plan to do it for as long as possible. If I am still going six months down the line when my son is a year old and I have some spare then I don't see a problem."

Alan1981 · 13/10/15 - 08:12

Iqoniq wrote: »

At least she's not selling "worn panties". Mind you, I kind of get the feeling that it could be a profitable second business, as I guess she already has the right type of client.

Hey just because I like to wear soiled women's panties on my head, doesn't mean I would touch breast milk. I'm not a pervert.

Nodger · 13/10/15 - 17:48

Alan1981 wrote: »

Hey just because I like to wear soiled women's panties on my head, doesn't mean I would touch breast milk. I'm not a pervert.

There's a potential huge difference between iqon's suggested 'worn' undergarments and your prefered 'soiled' items.

Addisonian · 13/10/15 - 20:22

I just don't see the need for this. Surely nobody needs to breastfeed their child that badly that they they require someone else's.
Yes, the benefits of it (which I'm not denying) are drilled into expectant/new parents at every opportunity but it is has it downfalls as well.
If you are using someone else's breast milk, and thus missing out on the 'bonding' part of breastfeeding anyway, then you are better off using formula milk to bottle feed as far as I'm concerned.

SJ_Mental · 13/10/15 - 20:39

Bitty.

exlordlucan · 13/10/15 - 21:05

Did she eat her baby's placenta? It's becoming quite popular apparently.

http://www.babycentre.co.uk/l1051310/how-to-eat-your-placenta-photos

jabegy · 13/10/15 - 22:37

Having fed my two sons until they were 10 months old, I can't see the sense in this. Surely you feed your child yourself thereby giving the baby your antibodies. It's fresh, and it's just at the right temperature. Buying someone else's, how do you know how fresh it is and if the woman you got it from hasn't got any illnesses. As for old men buying it, well, that's just weird.

Nodger · 14/10/15 - 01:06

Addisonian wrote: »

I just don't see the need for this. Surely nobody needs to breastfeed their child that badly that they they require someone else's.
Yes, the benefits of it (which I'm not denying) are drilled into expectant/new parents at every opportunity but it is has it downfalls as well.
If you are using someone else's breast milk, and thus missing out on the 'bonding' part of breastfeeding anyway, then you are better off using formula milk to bottle feed as far as I'm concerned.

jabegy wrote: »

Having fed my two sons until they were 10 months old, I can't see the sense in this. Surely you feed your child yourself thereby giving the baby your antibodies. It's fresh, and it's just at the right temperature. Buying someone else's, how do you know how fresh it is and if the woman you got it from hasn't got any illnesses. As for old men buying it, well, that's just weird.

I think you'll find most 'customers' are a little darker in thought than 'needing extra for baby' (little baby that is).

007Fusion · 14/10/15 - 07:32

Apparently it has an alluring and unique taste for some adults. I think it's probably an aphrodisiac, ultimately. There's likely something in there about the human body craving what it once had a vital stage in development, 'The drug that made everything better'.

flower 2 · 14/10/15 - 11:15

Anybody that would buy 'milk' for their baby, either from a cow, goat or human from an 'unknown' source on the internet is beyond my comprehension.

Uncle Fester · 14/10/15 - 13:13

I could be interested if I could take it strait from the source

:D

This is a joke

Mudbox · 14/10/15 - 13:17

Uncle Fester wrote: »

I could be interested if I could take it strait from the source :D

this is what happened in the article...the old man came around to her very house.....

Hey there!

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