"Despite the fact that the milk sold online is produced by new mothers who are breastfeeding their own babies, different babies need different kinds of nutrition, which can only be met by their biological mother's milk," Zhang said.

"Besides, the bonding between mom and baby promoted by breastfeeding sometimes is more important than the milk itself."

But Zhang said that most hospitals in China do not have breast milk banks, a popular measure adopted by foreign countries to help new mothers who are not producing enough milk.

As early as 2007, a Breast Feeding Association, the first of its kind in the country, was founded in Ningbo by the local government to facilitate the setting up of the first breast milk bank in China.

But the plan failed for various reasons including a lack of legal regulations and capital.