Breast Milk Surrogate

Giving Surrogate Babies the Gift of Nutrition

A breast milk surrogate is quite literally, a lactating mother who pumps breast milk for a child that is not her own. There are many breast milk stories by surrogate mothers who help intended parents with the breast milk vs formula dilemma, and continue their surrogacy after the birth.


Some, but not all, surrogacy arrangements are made with the desire for the surrogate to pump breast milk after the baby's birth, if she is able to do so, and become a breast milk surrogate. This can be quite healthy for the newborn, and beneficial to all parties.

In the breast milk vs formula debate, studies have shown that women who breastfeed are able to lose pregnancy weight more quickly. In addition, the nutritional benefits to the baby can be staggering.

Pumping breast milk, however, can be a very time consuming, and occasionally uncomfortable process.

Generally, breast milk will need to be expressed every three hours or the breast milk surrogate will dry up.

This includes throughout the night, so a pumping surrogate mother will need to wake herself throughout the night to continue pumping.

Some surrogate mothers have trouble pumping milk, producing little to no results.

Others are able to pump more than is needed.

It depends on each individual woman.

Immediately following birth, the body will produce colostrum, a thick, oily substance that is not milk, but contains antibodies designed to help the newborn child.

Unfortunately, this colostrum is difficult, and sometimes impossible to express via a breast pump. It can take 5-7 days for a mother's milk to fully come in, during which time she needs to attempt pumping every three hours, day and night, or no milk will come in at all.

Breast Milk Stories I knew that I wanted to gift my surrogate baby with breast milk, and my intended parent appreciated it. I was worried for the first few days in the hospital, as no matter what I did, no milk would come out. The nurses told me it was normal, and 6 days after delivery, my milk came in. Unfortunately, there wasn't much. Apparently I am not the best pumper. But I stuck to it and delivered as much milk as I was able to my intended parents. They were very grateful. The new baby was experiencing some intestinal cramping from the formula, and even though my breast milk only supplemented the amount of formula needed, it helped to ease the way. I pumped for one month until my intended parents took their new family home. Ours was an international surrogacy, and it took about a month for all the documents to be put into place for them to go home.

If you have decided to pump breast milk for your surrogate child, and become a breast milk surrogate, it is very important that you choose to use a hospital grade breast pump.

You can rent these at a medical supply store, or at the hospital itself, and the intended parents should cover the cost.

Alternately, if you have pumped successfully with a prior pregnancy and already have a pump that you have used, you could certainly continue using that pump.

Though buying breast milk is illegal, any costs associated with the pumping or shipping of the milk should be paid by the intended parents.

Some surrogates also receive a compensation for their time for pumping, while others see pumping as a gift they are giving for the health and well-being of the baby.

Not all surrogacy arrangements will deal with breast milk. Many intended parents do not want the surrogate to provide breast milk, while many surrogate mothers do not want to take on the responsibility and time constraints of pumping for the baby.

Each situation is different. There is no right or wrong approach.

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More Information on Surrogate Pregnancy and Breast Milk

Pumping Breast Milk

Shipping Breast Milk

Tips to Increase Milk Supply

Drying Up Breast Milk

Donating Breastmilk

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