One in 10 Breastmilk Bought Online Contains Cow 's Milk: What You Need to Know

For many mothers who are unable to breastfeed but want to still give their child breastmilk, they resort to buying it online from other mothers. However, a new study found that at least one in 10 batches of human breast milk bought online had cow's milk added to it.

The study alerts parents of the concerns about the safety of breast milk sold over the Internet, a practice that seems to be growing nationwide and is largely unregulated.

Sarah Keim of Ohio's Nationwide Children's Hospital says the addition of cow's milk is particularly dangerous for infants with an allergy or intolerance to lactose which is found in milk. The papers authors are warning parents to avoid buying unpasteurized breast milk.

For the study, published online in Pediatrics, researchers anonymously purchased breast milk online to test it for possible contamination.

"We were concerned that, because money is exchanged in these transactions, there might be an incentive to boost milk volumes in order to make more money," Keim said.

"Cow's milk and infant formula resemble human milk and could potentially be added to boost volumes without the recipient knowing. Mothers who consider purchasing breast milk over the Internet should beware - when you obtain milk from an unfamiliar source, you cannot know for sure that what you are getting is safe for your baby."

In a recent survey Keim conducted of 499 women, published in Breastfeeding Medicine, a quarter of them considered milk sharing and almost 4% of women shared milk among friends or relatives or had a preterm infant who received donor milk. She suggested women with extra milk could consider donating their milk to a non-profit milk bank instead.

Aside from being deceptive, the act of "topping off" breast milk to increase its volume also has health implications. "Human milk may be purposely 'topped off' with cow's milk or infant formula, and this could be harmful to babies receiving the purchased milk if they have cow's milk allergy or intolerance," said lead author Sarah Keim, a researcher at Nationwide Children's Hospital in Columbus, Ohio.