Mom, 32, has earned nearly $20,000 from selling her own breast milk to online strangers.
- Florida mom has made thousands of dollars from selling her breast milk online.
- Julie Dennis, a primary school teacher, pumps the jaw-dropping 15,000 ounces (443 L) of milk per month.
- Ms. Dennis has been selling the product since August 2019.
In August 2019, Julie Dennis from Florida started selling her breast milk after she gave birth to a surrogate baby, 9GAG reports. When the baby turned six months old and no longer needed to feed on Julie’s milk, she assumed she could use it as an additional source of income.
The primary school teacher sells her breast milk to families whose babies were also born via a surrogate who is not willing or unable to provide their own. The price for a single ounce(nearly 30mL) is $0.90.
Despite the massive backlash Ms. Dennis is facing for her unusual way of making money, the mother-of-two says:
“I have a perfectly good uterus and perfectly good milk so I may as well use it. It’s not completely money-oriented, but I make sure it’s worth it for me and my family.”
The Florida mom shares that those who blame her for selling something that she gets for free do not understand that the process is similar to a full-time job. Besides, she adds that she spends long hours every day ‘hooked up’ to her pump, which is significant time away from her family.
“It baffles me that people expect free breast milk.”
As Julie describes, the process of cleaning, bagging, and sterilizing all the pump parts between each use is both time and cash-consuming. She explains:
“I wouldn’t go into the store and assume I can get free formula, so it baffles me that people expect free breast milk. Even charging one dollar per ounce I get paid less than minimum wage once you add up all the time spent on it. That’s not to include replacement of pump parts every six to eight weeks, the cost of bags, the cost of the sterilization units, and four different pumps that I use. It is a lot of work to exclusively pump and it is a labor of love.”
The teacher pumps 15,000 ounces (443 L) of milk per month.
After the pumping finishes, Julie stores her breast milk in a freezer and ships it across the US in an icebox. Trying to explain why she charges people for her milk, she says:
“It has antibodies and its human milk made for human babies, but it’s a lot more expensive than formula. There are a lot more people advertising than there are people buying, so I’m lucky enough to charge as much as I do because people can’t really afford to spend all that money on baby food.”
Having in mind the various types of Internet users, Julie claims she has had unusual requests, mostly from men, who demanded ‘proof’ that the breast milk was hers. However, she shares she simply ignores those questions and blocks the audacious users.
Dennis started selling her own breast milk in August 2019.
Last summer, after the primary school teacher gave birth to a surrogate baby, she started advertising her organic product on Facebook. She was then contacted by a family who also had their baby via a surrogate who unfortunately couldn’t provide milk for the newborn.
Describing what it’s like to be a full-time breast milk provider and seller, Julie says:
“I fill up my freezer twice a month and ship it out in an ice box with lots of ice packs inside and ship it out overnight. For the first six months or so I just used it in addition to my income from work to pay bills and manage my household. The last six months I have just tucked it away in a savings account for a rainy-day fund. I haven’t done anything cool with it unfortunately just built a little savings account.”
What do you think of Julie Dennis’s idea of a small business? Let us know in the comment section!
