To add to the newest trends of ultrasound parties and breastfeeding dolls for little girls, several moms have come up with the idea of creating and selling jewelry encompassed with breast milk.
The jewelry, which can be found on several sites on the online marketplace, Etsy, is derived from milk covered with a glaze or clear resin after being plasticized or dehydrated to form a clay-like substance. Two of the moms interviewed would not reveal their specific recipes for processing the milk, but agreed that the idea sparked from a search for unusual keepsakes of their bond with their babies during nursing.
“What a wonderful way to preserve the ‘liquid gold’ that we are only able to make for a certain period of time,” reads one of the product descriptions. “This can be passed down for generations and what a fantastic gift to give to your child, the root of their survival.”
Prices range from $15 for a DIY kit to $125 for a double pendant in copper bezels with a matching chain. As intricate and unique as the designs may be, the concept isn’t one that sits well with everyone. Naples, Fla writer, Ashley McCann explains that while breastfeeding was “one of [her] fondest memories,” she feels that plasticizing breast milk seems like “some sort of weird worship of nursing.”
Other moms like Victoria Cameron see nothing wrong with it. She plans to buy the jewelry as nothing more than a personal keepsake.
“This has nothing to do with promoting the breast-feeding campaign. This is people on Etsy wanting to make a buck, and emotional moms like me wanting to have something for themselves,” she said. “I’m not going to pass it down to my son. I’m not going to tell the average person on the street what it is. It would be for me.”
Read more about the jewelry and how others view it on NBC New York.
BMWK–What are your thoughts on breast milk jewelry? Would you buy or want to make something like it of your own as a keepsake?