Julie Dennis is a 32-year-old Florida woman that decided to sell her own breast milk after she gave birth to a surrogate baby more than a year ago.
As it turns out, the baby she gave birth to for another couple turned six months, so it no longer needed her breast milk. The primary school teacher was struggling with cash, so she decided to sell her milk. She sells it for 90 cents per ounce to families whose newborns are also born via surrogate that’s not willing (or is unable) to provide their own.
According to Julie, producing milk is the equivalent of a full-time job. However, the woman has received backlash from social media users after her story went viral.
Julie, a mother of two, said that she has a perfectly good uterus and perfectly good milk. So, she thought: Why I don’t use it?
It’s not all money-oriented, though, but she makes sure that it’s worth it for herself and her family.
She often gets comments that shame her for asking for money for her time spent pumping. However, she doesn’t do it in her free time, so that’s why she makes sure she charges for it.
She spends a few hours a day hooked up to her pump – which feels like a full-time job.
Julie has provided milk for two babies up until their one year mark.
To add to that, the whole process of cleaning, sterilizing, and bagging all the pumps is very time-consuming.
The cost of bags, sterilization units, and four different pumps she uses is not included in it, so even if she charges a dollar per ounce, it turns out she gets paid less than minimum wage.
Julie pumps 15,000 ounces of milk per month and ships it across the country in an ice-filled box.
