Women in the UK and US are selling their breast milk online, despite serious concerns that it could be harmful for babies.

    Mothers are using community forums, including Facebook, to make some quick cash out of their extra milk.

    Buying breast milk is tempting to new parents struggling to express their own, as it provides babies with better protection against illnesses and allergies compared to formula.

    Websites such as onlythebreast.com appear to answer this need, saying: 'Our discrete breastfeeding breast milk classified system makes it possible to sell or buy breast milk in a clean, private way.'

    Donor mothers list their milk under the age of their baby and if they can provide fresh milk on demand. A search around the site reveals women from Essex to Newcastle are offering it either fresh or frozen for around ?1 per fluid ounce, while $2 per ounce is the standard rate in the US. The site has 14,000 members.

    The website's founder Glenn Snow said he set it up after his wife Chelly said she wanted to sell her extra milk to give her some spending money as a stay-at-home mother.

    Mothers can donate and receive breast milk for free via milk banks. These centres store breast milk for babies whose mothers can't breastfeed. However, they give priority to babies who are sick.

    The banks collect expressed milk from pre-screened mothers who have a plentiful supply and a baby under six-months old. It is then pasteurised before it is offered to nearby hospitals.

    But today doctors in Germany warned new parents against privately obtaining their baby's food through social networks such as Facebook.

    'Donors can be taking medicines or drugs, have infectious illnesses like AIDS or Hepatitis,' Wolfram Hartmann, president of the Professional Association of Pediatricians, said.

    'Nobody can check whether the unknown mother's milk is harmless for the particular child' he warned, adding that the milk's quality could also be affected during its transportation.

    一些来自英国和美国的女性在网上出售母乳引发争议，有专家提醒称这很可能对宝宝造成伤害。

    这些妈妈们使用社交论坛，包括Facebook等社交媒体来出售母乳挣钱。

    对母乳不足的新妈妈们，在网上购买母乳非常有吸引力，因为与配方奶相比，母乳能增强宝宝的抵抗力，也使宝宝更不易过敏。

    onlythebreast.com等网站满足了这一需求，网站上写道：我们离散的母乳分类体系让大家能够出售和购买母乳，购买渠道卫生且非常私密。

    母乳提供者列出自己孩子的年龄，以及是否能根据需求量提供新鲜母乳。搜索该网站的信息可以看出，提供新鲜母乳或冷冻母乳的女性来自从艾塞克斯到纽卡斯尔等英国各地，售价大约在每液盎司1英镑，而美国的标准售价是每盎司2美元。该网站有1.4万名会员。

    网站创建者格伦-斯诺称，之前她的妻子切丽说想要出售多余的母乳，给自己这个全职妈妈挣点零花钱，于是他想到了创建这个网站。

    通过“母乳银行”，妈妈们可以免费提供或接受母乳。这些机构为无法吃到母乳的宝宝们储存母乳，但优先提供给生病的宝宝。

    这类机构在收集母乳前，会先对提供母乳的妈妈们进行筛选，她们的母乳量十分充足，而且宝宝出生不到半年。之后还会对母乳进行巴氏消毒，随后提供给附近的医院。

    但德国的一些医生警告新晋爸妈们，通过Facebook等社交网站私下获取母乳有很大风险。

    儿科医生协会主席沃尔夫拉姆-哈夫曼说：“提供者可能在服药，可能在吸毒，也可能感染了艾滋病或者肝炎。”

    “没人能检查出这些母乳对某个接受母乳的宝宝来说是否有害。”他还补充说，在运输过程中母乳也有可能变质。