Breast milk has become popular due to both well-meaning (statistical correlation to everything from higher income to higher IQ) and mommy-shaming (if you use formula, you are a bad parent) groups that it may actually be putting more kids at risk.

If you simply can't express enough milk, or don't want the hassle, you may be tempted to buy breast milk online. Obviously the hope is you get a reputable source but if you do run into problems, Aoife Finnerty, adjunct at the University College Cork, outlines the legal situation.

It's completely legal, which means penalties will only happen after a child is harmed. And it is going to be difficult to prove that this one thing caused the problem if something does go wrong. Al risk needs to be relative so population level statistics in this case aren't meaningful to you outside your own goals, but since the risk of formula is nothing (forget statistical correlation to IQ and claims a baby's microbiome won't develop properly, 100 million healthy people in the US alone were raised on formula) it might be safer to go with the science side.


Use some judgment. Epidemiologists statistically link breastfeeding to higher IQ but they also link sausage to the same level of cancer hazard as World War I mustard gas.