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Rowse has donated most of her excess milk to the B.C. Women’s Milk Bank since shortly after her son was born 11 months ago, but she also privately donates or charges $2 an ounce for those interested in paying.

She sterilizes her equipment, gets screened regularly when she donates and is happy to share her health records with buyers and those she donates to privately, she said.

Her son is healthy and well-fed, she added, and she’s put all $700 from her breast milk sales into a college fund for him.

Rowse said she’s privately donated to a young mother who recently underwent a mastectomy, but declined to sell to one man who offered her $1,000 for 20 minutes of wet-nursing.

“I’ve done good things with my milk, so I don’t really mind selling.”

Ali Najafian, a world classic bodybuilding champion, said he knows people who’ve used and traded breast milk at gyms around Vancouver.

Najafian warned against buying it from an unregulated source but said he considers it a good source of nutrition for bodybuilders.

“In the off-season, they can take it more, but when they are restricting their diet and their fat and carb consumption, they just need to be more careful.”

Jeff Elliott, owner of supplement store Fuel SVN North Vancouver, said there’s chatter of breast milk in the bodybuilding community, but he’s never heard of anyone actually using it.

“I don’t think it’s safe,” Elliott said.

“I think it’s totally unsanitary, but I could see why people are doing it because I could see the health benefits associated with it — boosting growth hormone and natural IGF (insulin-like growth factor) in your body. Absolutely. And boosting your immune system.”