Unsure of how to go about buying breast milk for your little one? Not to worry, you’ve come to the right place. We’ve put together some tips to help make your experience on our website a positive and easy one.
There are a couple of different ways you can go about buying milk. You can either respond to a seller’s ad or strike up a conversation with her or you can post your own ad in the buyer’s section of the website. Or you can do both!
When posting an ad in our buyer’s section, specify the criteria that you are looking for. For example, you want a mother with a specific diet- vegetarian or no vegan diet mothers. Also, don’t be afraid to share a little bit about yourself, your baby, and your situation. Some mom’s looking to sell their milk are very selective about who they choose to start a milk share relationship with.
How To Find A Breast Milk Donor?
Before you buy, make sure to start up a conversation with your seller. Ask them any and all questions you might have. The majority of the sellers are okay with responding back and forth via email. The important thing is to find someone that you can work well with and can trust to send you high quality milk.
Good questions to ask are about their medical history, medications they may be taking, how they ship out their milk, how they sterilize their equipment, etc. This is the best time to make sure that all of your bases are covered. Also, ask for references. Check out their review section on their profile and see what others have had to say. If there’s a bad or questionable review, feel free to message both the buyer and the seller about it.
How much breast milk do I need?
The weight of the baby will factor into how much milk you will need. Use this formula to help you figure out how much you will need. A baby eats about 2.5 ounces of milk for every pound that they weigh and can eat up to a total of 32 ounces a day. So if your baby is 10 lbs, they will need about 25 ounces of milk a day. This equates to a little over 3 ounces per feeding if they eat about 8-10 times a day.
What to expect when buying breast milk?
When you do find someone to buy from, here are a few things that you will encounter and/or need to do.
Expect to pay for shipping and other costs related to the shipping process. Shipping perishable items can be expensive.
Also, make sure that they ship your items with dry ice especially, if the package has a two day delivery date. For more information on the shipping process, check our Guide for Shipping Breast Milk.
Make sure to ask your seller for either same-day or next-day shipping. Also, make sure that the parcel will have delivery confirmation and/or a tracking number and to get that information from your seller.
Now what?
After you receive your milk, make sure to pasteurize it before giving it to your baby. Milk intended for human consumption MUST be pasteurized BEFORE feeding it to a baby. Visit our pasteurization page to learn more about pasteurizing breast milk at home.
Please leave feedback on the seller’s review page. Not only will it help them but also future buyers as well.