Health Impact News Editor

Scary headlines about purchasing raw breast milk online made their way through the mainstream media recently. Here are some sample headlines:

Study: Buying Breast Milk Online May Be Dangerous

Buyer beware: Contaminated breast milk being sold online

Much breast milk bought online is contaminated, analysis shows

These stories were referencing a newly published study by Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Ohio. Here are some excerpts from the press release issued by the hospital:

Results from a study, led by researchers at Nationwide Children’s Hospital, found more than three-fourths of breast milk samples purchased over the Internet contained bacteria that can cause illness, and frequently exhibited signs of poor collection, storage, or shipping practices.

The study, published online today and in the November issue of Pediatrics, is the first to examine the safety of selling breast milk to others over the Internet, a trend that has become more frequent in the past several years. It is unknown exactly how common purchasing breast milk online is, but an earlier study cited 13,000 postings were placed on U.S. milk sharing websites in 2011.

The research team from the Center for Biobehavioral Health at The Research Institute at Nationwide Children’s Hospital purchased breast milk listed for sale on public websites and then analyzed it in the lab. The research was completed in collaboration with Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center and The Ohio State University.

Individuals posted classified ads on websites describing the breast milk they wanted to sell or why they were seeking breast milk. Researchers responded to ads from sellers who did not ask about the infant receiving milk and who did not require a phone call before a transaction was made.

Researchers analyzed 101 samples bought online and compared the findings to 20 samples obtained from a milk bank. In the U.S., twelve non-profit milk banks follow the Human Milk Banking Association of North America guidelines and provide pasteurized milk from carefully screened donors to fragile and sick infants. Because the milk banks pasteurize their milk, harmful bacteria are killed before the milk reaches an infant, unlike milk purchased online. Even before pasteurization, the milk bank samples were less likely to contain several types of bacteria and had lower bacterial growth in many instances.

So right away we need to note, from the actual study, that they were comparing breast milk purchased raw and fresh, with breast milk pasteurized and stored in a “milk bank.” So the fresh, raw milk, had more bacteria present than the pasteurized stored milk. Therefore, they concluded that this fresh raw milk was dangerous:

According to Dr. Keim, it is difficult to know if a particular infant would be sickened by consuming any given bottle of milk, but the types of bacteria found in the online samples contained bacteria that could cause illnesses known to be linked to contaminated breast milk.

The “dangers” therefore are based, it appears, solely on the bacteria present in the raw, fresh breast milk. It should be noted, that the study failed to report one single case of illness among infants due to drinking raw breast milk obtained online (much of it is donated, and not sold). The lead researcher for this study is Sarah A. Keim, PhD. Her bio is here. While most of her education is in government studies, she currently teaches in pediatrics. Her CV shows she worked in government for over 10 years with the National Institute of Health.

Apparently, the FDA is trying to figure what to do about raw breast milk distribution online, and Dr. Keim’s study was focused on giving the FDA some data about the “safety” of online raw breast milk distribution.

One of the news stories published on this study gave the opposing view, by interviewing Emma Kwasnica, the founder of Human Milk 4 Human Babies. If you visit their website, you will learn a lot about the people participating in sharing raw breast milk online. Some quotes from their website:

Breastmilk, the biologically normal sustenance for humankind, is a free-flowing resource and mothers of the world are willing to share it. Milksharing is a vital tradition that has been taken from us, and it is crucial that we regain trust in ourselves, our neighbors, and in our fellow women. The mission of Human Milk 4 Human Babies Global Network is to promote the nourishment of babies and children around the world with human milk. We are dedicated to fostering community between local families who have chosen to share breastmilk.

Does this sound like a dangerous group of people in our society that needs to be regulated and controlled by the FDA??

Kwasnica read Dr. Keim’s study and made some interesting observations about the facts of this study that most mainstream media reports seemed to ignore:

Kwasnica suggests that flaws in the study’s methodology led to botched results that don’t necessarily reflect online breast milk sales. “The data just can’t be extrapolated into anything meaningful,” she says.

Most importantly, Kwasnica notes, anonymous transactions are often a red flag for women: those involved in the practice “are involved, concerned people, who would ask about the baby and the buyer, and expect to be asked for their own health information,” she notes. “Women aren’t stupid. They get a vague, anonymous note asking to buy some milk? They know something weird is going on.”

Indeed, the study itself appears to corroborate Kwasnica’s point. Of 495 requests for breast milk sent out, 191 women never replied. An additional 41 stopped responding after one message and 57 were eliminated because “they wanted to communicate verbally or inquired about an infant.” Study authors also asked that milk be shipped to a UPS store — a request that Kwasnica says would strike women as disconcerting, and may have contributed to bacterial growth. “Who knows how long it was sitting there?” she says. “Real women ordering breast milk would have it sent where they can receive it and store it immediately.”

Women who did contribute samples to the study, then, may reflect the most careless among the community — or assumed the fluids weren’t actually going to a baby in need. So where did they think the milk was going? “Look, there are a lot of breast milk fetishists out there,” Kwasnica says. “There are strange people who buy the milk, and they do whatever weird thing they’re going to do with it.” Her own network actively watches for signs of breast milk fiends, Kwasnica says that other sites might be less stringent. Only The Breast, for instance, includes a category for “Men buying breast milk” with requests like “I am a middle-aged male who loves the taste of warm, fresh breast milk,” and “I’m working out everyday and I need some good protein to help my muscle build up.”

According to Kwasnica, the online milk sharing she oversees is done among careful, caring parents — those who would rather feed their babies breast milk than formula, or would prefer to share their milk than dump excess stock down the drain. “If babies were getting sick from this, I would be the first to know,” she says. Furthermore, Kwasnica worries that this study reflects how society at large conceives of breast milk. “It’s this perception people have of women and their dirty feminine fluids that need to be kept under control,” she says. “Well, we’re using that fluid to nourish babies. Get over it.” (Full Article Here.)

It appears, therefore, that even the results of this study are not representative at all of what is happening online with these milk-sharing groups.

But will this stop the FDA from moving in and trying to regulate it?

How Donated Breast Milk Saved One Baby’s Life

by Judy Wright

I was the foster mother of little Jayden, born without a Pancreas. I gave her donated breast milk when she was just three months old, weighing only 4 pounds. Her little body had shut down so entirely that she wasn’t able to see or hear….only continue her heart beating. Breast milk saved her life. Within days of starting breast milk, she could see and hear! Her blood sugar levels completely stabilized with her new diet of donated breast milk. Because she is one of only 17 known cases in the entire world, she has become known as quite a little Miracle!

But what I wanted to share with you all is that we have had 250+ “pumpin’ mamas” generously donate enough breast milk to keep Jayden alive! She is 2 1/2 years old now, and since she is Diabetic (and will be forever), her intake of breast milk continues to stabilize her blood sugar enough that she is the only one of the 17 we know of, that doesn’t require having her blood sugar ‘tested’ throughout the night. Others her age are still tested every 2 hours around the clock. Often upon testing, these other children need insulin or food to regulate their blood sugar. Jayden is able to sleep soundly through each night and wake with a stabilized blood sugar level! You have no idea of how comforting that is! That reassurance is only because of YOU pumpin’ mama’s out there! YOU have saved her life. YOU have offered something that ONLY YOU can give!

If you know of other moms that are questioning what to do with their extra stash of breast milk, please share Jayden’s story. It isn’t ‘gross’ (as some have said) to give breast milk, allowing a child the chance to thrive in this world! It is an HONOR! God gave you the ability to make a difference in the life of another child! What a blessing that is! And it was also a blessing to come home from many of our daily doctor’s visits to find that someone had put a cooler full of donated breast milk on our front porch! We called it a “Miracle”…. We never had to worry about supply. Pumpin’ Mamas from all across the country did their part to make sure that Jayden would survive!

Now that Jayden and her brother have been adopted and have transitioned happily to their forever family, please say a prayer for her continued health and happiness. (Source.)