Hey, why don't we just become wet-nurses?
Instead of Meals on Wheels, we can call ourselves eats on feets.
~ Shell Walker Luttrell, 1991.


These words are at the foundation of the breastmilk sharing network that is known today as eats on feets.

Breastmilk sharing, also called community-based human milk sharing or private arrangement milksharing, is successful because parents, caretakers, professionals, and people just like YOU are joining together to help ensure that babies have access to commerce-free and safe donor milk. Babies need human milk to maintain optimum health. Families and professionals know this. Every day, donors around the world selflessly offer thousands of ounces of breastmilk through eats on feets directly to the families of babies in need, making a huge difference in their lives.

eats on feets is a leading resource for community-based human milk sharing. We are proud of our extensive research on safe milksharing practices and of our 4 Pillars that are easy to implement and that influence milksharing policy.

Please have a look around and get involved with eats on feets! Contact us if you would like to write a blog post about your milksharing experience or if you would like to volunteer for a while! Most of all, help us spread the word that:

Community-based milksharing is normal!


Monday, March 11th 2024

Are You Being Scammed?

Some things you can do.

By Maria Armstrong

As milksharing has grown more widespread in our society, it has shown up on the radar of people with ill-intentions. Nearly every day we receive alerts from people who paid or were asked to pay for shipping milk that does not exist. We also receive alerts about people flipping milk, ie. requesting in one group and selling it in another. We remove these people as we become aware of them, but this, unfortunately, is usually not before someone has already been scammed.

Eats on Feets has long maintained that the self-determination of families is extremely important for the safe community-based sharing of human milk. Our community groups are public so that no one is at the mercy of an admin to be added or have their post be approved and we do not believe that making our groups private will prevent scams from happening. Eats on Feets cannot take responsibility for screening people nor do we want to give the impression that joining or posting in our community groups means that any individual has been screened by the administrators of the Eats on Feets network. People who use our network do so at their own risk.

Scams are an unfortunate part of society and especially of online spaces. It’s awful. It is even more awful when someone is just trying to feed their baby as this is already such a vulnerable time in life. However, no matter what we do or try to do, Eats on Feets nor the many volunteers who run the groups, can protect you. Only YOU can protect yourself: Follow the 4 Pillars of Safe Milksharing! A crucial, indeed, a PILLAR for the safe sharing of human milk is for donors and recipients to thoroughly screen each other.

DON'T BE SCAMMED! Know thy source!

Someone who

  • Offers to ship for a fee or partial fee (May say they work for a courier company and do this all the time.)
  • Requests a large amount only (Possible milk flipping.)**
  • Donates as well as sells on various platforms and tries to have you pay (Supposedly thought you were on a selling site.)
  • Declines to meet in person and has you drop your milk off or leave it out
  • Offers to send you bags via an online store directly
  • Declines to answer your questions or is vague about health, lifestyle, and proper handling of milk
  • Reacts offended by your questions
  • Declines to share a picture of themselves with their baby
  • Declines to offer a reference if asked
  • Has a new FB profile with few friends and pictures***
  • Feels off to you

  • ... may indeed be scamming you!

    Do not send (shipping) money to strangers. If you must use shipping, use prepaid labels or shipping accounts. A scammer will refuse and disappear.

    Money and community-based milksharing

    Aside from the risk of sending money to a stranger promising milk, it also bears repeating that it is not a safe practice to buy human milk via community-based milksharing.

    What are the issues?

    Some issues of buying human milk from individuals include:

  • The milk may be a donation they received from someone else
  • The milk may not be human at all
  • The milk may be cut with other liquids
  • The milk may come from multiple unknown donors
  • A baby may be deprived of its own milk when a family is on government assistance and receives formula
  • Studies have shown that purchased human milk contains higher levels of bacterial contamination

  • Please make us aware of any suspicious activity in your area and report any wrongdoing to the admins of your community group. You can also email us. This helps us protect community-based milksharing and the tiniest humans benefitting from it.

    We know how much time and effort goes into feeding a baby. We especially appreciate all the donors who selflessly donate their extra milk to a baby in need. While Eats on Feets does not allow selling, buying, and bartering in our spaces and via our spaces, we do not dictate any ensuing milksharing relationship between donors and recipients. Recipients are free to thank their donors however they wish!

    _______________

    * People can post anonymously for privacy reasons. Admin can see who posted and remove someone who has been flagged.
    ** Some people may only be able to make the drive for a larger donation.
    *** Some people have not had a Facebook account but created an account for milksharing.