A young mum has come up with a novel way of earning some extra cash while on maternity leave – by selling her breast milk online.
Cash-strapped Toni Ebdon, 26, gave birth earlier this year and found herself producing more than enough milk for baby boy David.
A friend joked that she was producing so much extra milk that Toni could open her very own dairy.
So she turned to the internet in a bid to offer expectant mothers who could not produce their own milk the chance to use hers.
But Toni was stunned when her only customers turned out to be men – who use the milk for its healing properties.
Studies have shown breast milk can be used to maintain general good health and could even be a miracle cure for adult illnesses including cancer, diarrhoea and diabetes.
Toni, of Exeter, Devon, now has ten regular customers, who she charges £15 for 4oz of breast milk.
She said: ”I was expecting women who couldn’t breast feed to get in touch but instead all the responses were from men.
”Breast milk has healing properties and I think people want to use it for those reasons.
”I tend not to ask too many questions or pry into people’s private lives.
”All communication prior to the sale is done via email and I meet the customer in person to hand over the milk.
”They can have it fresh or store it in the freezer for up to one month.
”I always feed my baby first so he gets the most nutritious milk.
”I haven’t made loads of money but there’s plenty more milk to come and I intend to carry on selling it until it dries up.”
Health support worker Toni fell pregnant in June but split up with partner Gareth Ebdon, 29, shortly after.
She gave birth to baby David on March 25 but was left feeling uncomfortable after breast feeding due to the large quantities of milk she produced.
So she started using a breast pump to filter off the excess and storing it in the freezer and decided to put an ad on Gumtree for mothers to get in touch.
But she was inundated with emails from men who wanted to use it to maintain good health and fight off short-term illnesses.
Breat milk contains anti-biotic properties which helpes wars off ilnesses, as well as alpha-lactalbumin which can help in the battle against cancer.
It also contains the acne-fighting property lauric acid and oligosaccharides to help fight chronic diarrhoea.
Toni’s milk costs £15 for 4oz and an extra £5 per ounce thereafter and it takes her between 15 minutes and an hour to produce an ounce.
So far, Toni’s biggest order has been for 12oz and she estimates she has sold around 30oz so far – and says she has no intention to quit.
She added: ”Because I’d only been in my job for a few months before I gave birth I wasn’t entitled to full maternity pay.
”My baby’s father is still on the scene but we’re not living together and he doesn’t have the means to support us financially.
”I’ll certainly continue selling it for as long as is possible, and if I had a second child I would do the same.
”But next time I think I’d use an electric pump, as it’s much quicker.”