The Ultimate Social Network: Breastmilk Sharing via the Internet

Why do mothers want to provide their breastmilk to infants other than their own? Given the reality that this “activity” is primarily on an unregulated peer-to-peer basis, accurate comprehensive population data as the motivation of these mothers and the extent of the practice of the sharing of their milk are, to date, sketchy or nonexistent. The proliferation and commercial success of Web sites such as Only the Breast (www.onlythebreast.com), which has been called the “Craigslist of Breastmilk,” suggest that this activity is more widespread than previously acknowledged and is not limited to sharing, as opposed to selling. Clearly, breastmilk has become a commodity and, as such, is being touted as the “natural superfood” not only for high-risk newborns, or infants under a year whose mother cannot supply the requisite recommended volume, but also as a health food supplement for male body builders and athletes. ¹ Thus, not surprisingly, breastmilk's commercial value is being heralded as “liquid gold” in non–health-related Web sites such as Penny Hoarder (www.the pennyhoarder.com), whose motivation is to educate mothers how to “make extra cash” from their precious body liquid, and as a result the altruistic donation of breastmilk to regulated nonprofit milk banks is being threatened.

The unregulated widespread commercially driven practice of milk sharing/selling has led to a rash of documented risky practices documented by Keim et al. ² and Geraghty et al., ³ including transport of milk in unrefrigerated and not securely sealed receptacles and bacterial contamination of the milk. In addition, there have been reports of Internet-purchased breastmilk being diluted with bovine milk so as to provide a greater volume for sale. ⁴ Money is clearly a great motivator (and a possible corrupter too)!

Thus, the report in this issue of Breastfeeding Medicine by Reyes-Foster et al., ⁵ documenting what is going on as to milk sharing in a specific U.S. geographic region (Florida), is both timely and of more than passing interest. Most striking is that although some of the donor milk was obtained from mothers known personally by the recipient infant's mother, most used the Internet to facilitate milk exchange using well-known milk sharing Web sites as well as private virtual networks. The study found that while most milk exchanges happened as person-to-person gifts, one must be cautioned against generalizing and assuming that such “noncommercial” practices are common in other geographic areas. On the other hand, the fact that in one geographic area relatively safe peer-to-peer sharing can exist should be analyzed so to see how this model can be recreated in other locations.

This issue also highlights a basic science article ⁶ that documents the complexity and dynamic production of breastmilk components other than the classic albumin/casein, lactose, and lipid fractions. Clearly, we still have a lot to learn about the complexity of human breastmilk and its dynamic changes during the different stages postpartum as it tailor-remakes itself to meet the infant's changing needs.