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Bosom Buddies

It has long been established that breast-feeding is by far the healthiest way to feed a baby because it holds several benefits for both mother and child. Recently, however, concerns have been raised about breast-feeding as breast milk being bought and sold via the Internet has occasionally been found tainted by various tests. The increase in chemicals, both harmful and well-meaning, can lead to a shift in chemistry in human breast milk that may give rise to worry. In the end, it seems that however our changing environment affects the baby’s first meal, breast milk is still by far the healthiest thing for them, serving as both food and medicine.

According to the American Pregnancy Association, breast-milk contains fats essential for brain development, vitamins in amounts directly related to the mother’s intake, carbohydrates, including lactose, and proteins, including whey and casein, which help fight infection (2013). These promote healthy gut bacteria growth in beings that have no experience with bacteria until exiting the womb. Florence Williams described this “bacterially naïve” state in a 2013 NPR interview:

“…bacteria start to sort of invade and colonize the infant. It's sort of a creepy thought, and it sort of makes sense, then, that the first substance you could give the child would be to help it, you know, regulate this onslaught and be able to manage it. And so that's why there are so many substances in breast milk that are able to fight pathogens that are able to, for example, kill E. coli on contact. The good bacteria comes in, following this breast milk, and it can out-compete the bad bacteria.”

The American Pregnancy Association has also found that long-term benefits for babies that have been breast-fed include lower rates of obesity, diabetes, and asthma (2013). Mothers’ benefits from breast-feeding are both mental and physical. Breast-feeding can stem the bleeding following delivery by helping the uterus contract. Moreover, “breastfeeding can reduce the risk of breast and ovarian cancer and also provides a great way for mothers to bond with their babies” (American Pregnancy Association, 2013).

Most people are comfortable accepting these facts about breast milk and praise its health benefits, but worries arise when said people learn about the purchase of breast milk online. In the US it is considered a food instead of a body liquid, so sales go completely unregulated by new mom entrepreneurs making ends meet (Dutton, 2013, p. 145). Nonprofit milk banks screen donors for various diseases that might travel in breast milk such as HIV, but those tests cost time and money. The pasteurization process is also costly because milk banks strive to create a standard level of nutrients in all of the milk they receive as donations. This milk is then sold to hospitals for “hospitalized newborns, at a cost of $135 per baby, per day.” (Dutton, 2013, p.147). When a new mom with an excess of breast milk could just hop on a craigslist-esque website like Only The Breast and be paid immediately for her goods, the less regulated option starts to look very attractive. It is in these unregulated corners of the Internet that a woman can make up to $20,000 a year selling breast milk (Dutton, 2013, p. 146).

This grassroots movement of sorts is eyed with speculation from curious parties, Florence Williams among them, as well as skeptics with disturbing scientific findings. When tested, breast milk purchased online has been found to harbor harmful bacteria like salmonella and chemicals in amounts high enough to make an infant seriously ill (Bakalar, 2013). When Williams sent her breast milk to a lab in Germany, she was surprised to find things such as: “high to average levels of flame retardants in my breast milk, as well as trace amounts of pesticides, trace amounts of dioxin, which is a known carcinogen, and trace amounts of a jet fuel ingredient” (NPR, 2012). She goes on to explain that in her research, she found the breasts function much like a sponge, absorbing any and all chemicals they are exposed to, especially fat-loving ones, which is how the jet fuel ingredient ended up in her breast milk. The flame retardant, the pesticide DDT, was found in her couch. But these harmful substances are not only being fed to babies via breast milk, they are also exposed to them in the womb through the umbilical cord. These chemicals surround us in our daily life, and although a detox of these things might lower levels of harmful chemicals in breast milk, the question arises as to whether or not the chemicals, the detox or breast-feeding in general, is worth it.

Overall, the benefits of breast-feeding outweigh the frightening artificial bits breasts have absorbed over time. Complex proteins that formula companies haven’t been able to replicate should be a major motivator for breast-feeding. And it obviously is, even for mothers that are not able to do so. Although tainted breast milk is a huge risk, if both the buyer and seller are confident, the practice of buying and selling milk is no different from our past. Mothers would nurse each others’ newborns when the other was busy, no big deal. (Dutton, 2013, p.162) For this practice to be translated into the 21st century should be no surprise.

By Myra Nelson