For a nursing mother, it can be quite a challenge to find somewhere private to pump breast milk when you aren’t actively feeding your baby. But although a federal law requires employers to provide such a safe spot for workers, one former employee of grocery chain Meijer claims in a lawsuit that there was no such place for her to express breast milk while she was at work, which she says ultimately led to her losing her job. [More]
breast milk
Breast Milk Scammer Sends Fake Check In Exchange For Mail-Order Milk
By 12.11.15
In this story, a woman and her customer were engaging in a controversial practice: they had arranged online to exchange human milk for money, shipping it across the country. This kind of transaction poses risks of contamination and spoilage, but that isn’t why we’re sharing the story. We’re sharing it because the buyer sent a fake check. [More]
How American Health Insurance Policy Affects A Swiss Breast Pump Maker
By 10.15.15
Back in 2013, the business model for Medela, a Swiss company that makes human milk pumps and accessories changed in the United States, when health insurers were required to pay for breast pumps for customers who choose to pump milk. However, the process has been more complicated than just latching on and extracting money from health insurers. [More]
Researchers Find That Some Breast Milk Sold Online Contains Cow’s Milk
By 4.6.15
Many parents choose to buy breast milk to feed their babies, for various reasons, but those folks are under the belief that the stuff is coming from humans. Researchers published a report into the online breast milk industry that said despite the expectation that the milk comes from women, some samples tested positive for cow’s milk. [More]
Woman Allegedly Squirted Breast Milk At Pharmacy Staff, Then Stole Money
By 10.29.14
When you need to distract someone in order to steal money, simply use what you have at hand. A woman in Germany allegedly stole cash from a pharmacy earlier this week after she distracted employees. Police say that she distracted the employees by whipping out a boob and squirting milk at them. [More]
Study: Breast Milk Sold On The Internet Can Contain Dangerous Bacteria
By 10.21.13
Mothers who want to feed their babies breast milk but are unable to produce enough on their own or have other issues with breastfeeding often rely on donated or purchased breast milk. But a new study looking into breast milk sold online for a few bucks an ounce says it could contain potentially dangerous bacteria including salmonella. [More]
Finally, Breast Milk-Flavored Lollipops That Don’t Actually Contain Breast Milk
By 6.5.13
Are you one of the dozens of people who have craving a lollipop with all the flavor of breast milk but didn’t want that flavor to actually come from the mammary glands of another human? Then you are in luck, as a company in Texas has released a product with all the breast milk taste but without the breast milk. [More]
The Economics Of The Breast Milk Market
By 5.31.11
Wet nurses, women who breastfed others’ children for pay, have a venerable history, only going out of style when artificial infant formulas became widely available. Mothers who can’t nurse, but want their babies to have the nutritional and immune benefits of human milk now have more options than ever. These range from informal online networks of “raw” milk donors to Prolacta, a company that takes breast milk donations and sells an ultra-processed milk product for premature infants that costs thousands of dollars per baby per week. [More]
Breast Milk Ice Cream Confiscated From London Shop
By 2.28.11
When we wrote about the London ice cream shop that had made a frozen treat from human breast milk, some readers wondered about the legality and/or safety of such a product. Well, they weren’t alone, as local authorities decided to confiscate the ice cream until those questions were resolved. [More]
London Ice Cream Shop To Offer Scoops Of Frozen Breast Milk
By 2.24.11
If you’ve ever wondered what ice cream made from human breast milk might taste like, a London shop will soon have the answer. [More]
UK Mom Charging $22 For 4 Oz. Bottle Of Breast Milk
By 6.11.10
Several months ago, I wrote about an episode of Fox medical dramedy House where a cancer patient asked for a prescription for breast milk because he thought he could get the insurance company to pay for it. And as some commenters pointed out, there is indeed a black market for the liquid. Now one woman in England is happily telling the world about her burgeoning breast milk business. [More]
Very Special Episode Of 'House' Tackles Health Insurance, Prescription Breast Milk
By 2.9.10
Anyone familiar with the Fox medical hit House knows that the show’s cranky, mad-genius protagonist often makes an end-run around hospital protocol, red tape and common sense. Which means the writers are often forced to omit any pesky “there’s no way that’s covered by their insurance” scenes. But Monday night’s episode got its hands on the hot-button issue of health insurance in an almost realistic way. There was also a guy trying to get a prescription for breast milk. [More]
Lansinoh Preserves Customer's Faith, 163 Bags Of Breast Milk
By 10.1.07
Reader Kymberly sent Lasinoh Laboratories a concerned email after noticing that several of her 163 Lansinoh breast milk storage bags began to leak while defrosting:
I have in my deep freezer 163 bags of breast milk. I am a working mother and I rely on the frozen milk in order to ensure that my son can have breast milk while at daycare. Unfortunately I an having a problem with bags leaking. I have a serious problem with this because I pay for a product that is supposed to freeze and store milk. The bags are not much use if they leak half the milk they store while they are being thawed. As a Military member who constantly has the possibility of deployment, having a large stockpile of milk is more important to me than most. Every bag of milk that I have in the freezer is one more meal that my son will not have to come from a can.
Breast Milk Contains Oodles of Toxins
By 3.21.06
The Environmental Working Group published a report on the toxicity of breast milk. The research found breast milk to contain, “paint thinners, dry-cleaning fluids, wood preservatives, toilet deodorizers, cosmetic additives, gasoline byproducts, rocket fuel, termite poisons, fungicides and flame retardants.”
