Breast milk jewelry

Breast milk jewelry is jewelry made of a mother's breast milk as a keepsake often worn by the mother in various jewelry types such as rings, lockets, pendants and popular European style beads. Pendants may include custom background colors, children's names and be made in many shape choices. Some pendants may be bezel set, locket set, or made from just resin. There are also filled styles available where a piece of jewelry, usually Sterling Silver is filled with preserved breast milk. Generally the filled shapes are trees or hearts to represent love or life.

Various methods are used to make the jewelry. Generally, the milk is processed by being dried and shaped. The final product hardens as it ages, resulting in a substance resembling white clay. To preserve and protect it, the piece may be covered in a clear resin or glaze. No matter the process used for preservation, there seems to be a long process involved in creating the keepsakes leading to long waits for order fulfillment.

Regardless of the popularity this new type of memento has gained it has also resulted in controversy. Compared to other baby mementos such as bronzed baby shoes, locks of first hair, and baby teeth, breast milk jewelry has repulsed a segment of the population, who have expressed their distaste at blog posts.

Controversy has not stopped this new popular keepsake, women from all over the world place orders every day for such items. Many competing market venues are available for such keepsakes, as the market for such items has continued to grow so have the buying options. Also offered are DIY kits where breast milk can be preserved in the home by the customer.

History

Breast milk jewelry was first recognized in the media on April 8, 2013 by Daily Mail UK in an article referencing "How jewelry made from breast milk has become an unlikely trend among new mothers (but is it adorable or gross?)" The very first piece designed and sold online is unknown, but it is believed that breast milk jewelry came to market on the internet in 2012.

The process

The exact processed used by creators of breast milk mementos is regarded as a trade secret. Each creator likely uses a different process, in some methods it's expected that solvents are added to assist the preservation. Other methods include dehydrating, cooking down, mixing breast milk with other mediums, forming and curing take place after a period of drying and/or curing with the medium mixes. Seemingly all preserved breast milk keepsakes are sealed in resin or encased in jewelry then glazed. It's unknown if these methods will preserve the breast milk from becoming contaminated with growing bacteria over time, breast milk has millions of bacteria and microbes including but not limited to staphylococci, streptococci that may be hard to diminish no matter the technique used. It's confutable that breast milk is used in these keepsakes at all, no person has come forward with information of the exact process, which leaves the use of actual breast milk questionable.