Apparently, some people believe that breast milk is good for their health and are willing to pay a lot for it.
Young mothers are being hired by an agency to provide breast milk for rich adults in China. The young mother can earn approximately $1,303 a month for the service.
Customers are mostly from the city of Shenzhen. The customers include babies of parents, who have lost faith in the infant formula, after the country was rocked by a scandal over poisoned baby formula, to wealthy adults, who are very busy and their health is at risk from stress.
Lin Jun, a native of Henan Province, said that his job is to find young mothers, who are willing to give their milk to his customers. When they sign up, customers pay almost $1000 and the young mothers receive $3,000 when they sign up give their milk.
The Mother is then paired with a customer and the two of them decide on the monthly fee between themselves. Lin said some mothers could earn up to $20,000 in a period of eight months.
Once hired, mothers do not have to do hard work but feed and take care of their customers, even though their employment contract describe them as nannies, cooks or cleaners.
“Breast milk is the best tonic, especially for those who have undergone major surgery,” Lin said. “If necessary, customers may feed directly from the young mothers,” he added.
Lin said that many of the young mothers are recruited from rural areas and very likely live in poverty. He said women rarely object to the client’s needs, as long as they are paid enough.
He Mei, a 25-year-old mother of a two-month-old, said she decided to provide the service to earn money for her son’s future education. Her husband works in a factory in Shenzhen and makes only 2,000 yuan a month, or about $326 not enough to support the family.
Mei leaves her son in the care of her mother-in-law to work for the agency where she earns 8,500 yuan, or about $1,300 a month. Lin interviews the women, and checks their health prior to hiring them.
