Breastmilk rings are a thing??

[fruityb]

I’m on mush (I have no idea why as it’s full of huns) and someone recently posted about having their breastmilk made into jewellery.

Is this a bit weird or is it me? And a little indulgent as in “I’m very clever because I breastfed”? I just shuddered at the thought.

Are these popular? Completely passed me by when my son was a baby! I did breastfeed for a time but at no point did I think it’d be nice to preserve this in ring form!

Mumberjack absolutely no one would know what the ring was though unless you chose to tell them, which makes it very unlike the mother jumpers. People have always used jewellery to remember various things.

I'm actually thinking of having a small pendant made. Breastfeeding for me was bloody hard work at times and it kind of feels like a memento of the good and the bad of it if that makes sense. I have a few pieces of Opal jewellery in any case as it's my birthstone and I'm looking at having it done in a very similar style so I doubt many people would think to comment on it in my case. It's not about having something I can wave about and shout hurrah about. It's about an elegant, quiet celebration of managing to do something which I never thought I'd be able to and a small amount of pride mixed in too.

I think some things are in remembrance and that I get. I just don’t get the breastmilk thing as it wouldn’t be a thing I’d want to remember 😂 it hurt and it drained me!

Each to their own like you say - I just don’t really see why!

I make resin jewellery and from the groups I'm in it's certainly very popular in the USA.
It is however not as simple as it sounds and to get it to set is no mean feat. It's a long, complex process which involves drying the milk out. If you don't do it properly the gorgeous piece of jewellery you get on day one will rapidly deteriorate.
I don't do it myself, far too complex for my, but if you do have it done choose someone with lots of experience who isn't cheap. As I say the process is so complex that anyone selling this type of work cheaply is cutting corners.

If I could afford it, I’d get one. I struggled so much to breastfeed DD, she’s 9.5 months now and still going. I’m so incredibly proud of what I’ve achieved, so something to remember that would be nice.

Some really nasty comments here about people who breastfeed.
If we made the same comments about people who formula feed it would not be taken so lightly.

I find the idea of jewellery containing body fluids a bit grim. Fine for the person wearing it but one more thing to be disposed of after you die. I can’t imagine future generations vying to own great-grandmother’s breastmilk ring. Lately I’ve become more and more conscious of how the decisions we take affect the planet, and it’s affecting my view of everything.

Hair in a locket doesn’t bother me as much, maybe because it can be removed, or maybe because it’s already a familiar idea I’m also thinking of the story of Beethoven’s Hair.

I think they’re a bit icky, you wouldn’t preserve any other bodily fluid like that.
You can have jewellery made with blood, too!
A relative had a necklace made out of her mother's ashes. I think that's really weird too.
I bf both my DC and don't see why it needs celebrating in that way. It's just a tiny part of their lives, there are other things I find much more important and worthy of celebration. I think some women have been brainwashed into thinking bf is the only way of being a truly good mother, which is why they attach such massive importance to it.

Blood jewellery?

Oh god - why do you care?! Why can’t people just do what they want without somebody moaning about everything.

I didn’t manage to bf my first child but I’m still bf my 18mo old & I am planning on getting a ring with a lock of my first child’s hair & breastmilk. I am very sentimental & some of them are gorgeous pieces of jewellery.

IDGAF if anybody thinks it’s weird & I definitely don’t think I’m clever for breastfeeding but I am proud because I worked hard when I couldn’t manage to bf my first.

I think that they are quite sweet and normally, on just about all matters, I fall to the heartless cow end of the spectrum.

a teething ring haha frozen breast milk in a ring shape now that would be a better idea

It’s a thing already- home made breastmilk ice lollies for teething.

I am very much in the “each to their own” camp here. It’s bloody hard work for many women to breastfeed. And even those lucky ones who find it relatively easy (latching/supply etc) it’s still bloody hard work as pretty much all the feeds are done by you (if you can express for someone else to do the feeds then you still need to express) so it IS an achievement. If someone wants to mark that by getting some jewellery then that’s totally fine by me. It’s far less “weird” than wanting great big holes in your body (stretchers) to me- yet other people like that. Each to their own- it’s harming no one.

Ah I'm on the side that people can do what they please with their own money and body fluids (within reason of course) but personally I find it very self indulgent and self congratulatory.
Bravo, me, for feeding my child from my own udders. Also, I do think it's a little 'ew'.

(And I say this as someone who breastfed to nearly two years)

Udders, really?

I really wanted one but in the end I couldn’t justify the expense. I appreciate that breastfeeding is a negligible part of DS’ life but it ended up being a big part of mine and I’m proud of myself. It was hard going and I carried on in the face of pretty big pressure from MIL (my family live 300 miles away) and the ring would have represented a huge growth in myself as a person.

I’m saying ring, but I actually wanted a necklace. I would have told people what it was if they asked but I doubt many would have done...

Yes, I called my own breasts udders while I was feeding because I felt like a dairy cow.

I am not a sentimental person but I am getting one as I had an extremely difficult first 13 weeks breast feeding. But I carried on through it and am extremely proud of getting to 7 months and still going. Not getting it to show off or anything, in fact i would cringe telling other people. But it is something for me to keep and remember I got through a really hard time.

I want one for sentimental reasons.

I never wanted to breastfeed and thought it was revolting. I changed my mind, and it was harder than childbirth so I don't see why I shouldn't be proud of myself for working so hard at it for each child.

It wouldn't be to publicly announce how wonderful I am for breastfeeding, just a memento of the sleepy feeds, happy smiles, both of their first sign language signs were for milk and they used that sign to ask for me. It really means a lot to me and makes up so many memories.

When I read the thread title I wondered how you'd get one of those off the coffee table.

Women turning everything into a competition. Who wear it bets? Are you a Megan or a Kate? Breast or bottle? Stop it already, men are doing it for us anyway

In this case, men really really aren't. Generally men don't sit on forums and discuss which women are better - breastfeeders or formula feeders, if women are fat or thin, if women lose weight straight after they have babies or if they hold on to weight for 4+ years after their last kid is born.

Nope, the ONLY people who perpetuate all of this competitive bullshit are other women, and mostly on mumsnet.

And what makes me laugh is that Mumsnet is "supposed" to be a place where people come for support with parenting.

Taking this thread as an example, if I saw someone in RL with a breastfeeding ring, I would thing "huh, that's a bit odd" but I wouldn't vocalise that thought, nor would I judge a person for doing it, it's just not something I would do, and that would be the end of it.

But on an internet forum, where we vocalise our opinion on something it immediately means someone else will feel judged, or belittled. And its always women doing it to other women because it's the nature of mumsnet. There is always someone with a strong opinion which will serve to make someone's hackles rise and because we can say what we want behind a keyboard, most posters give zero fucks or thought about how their words will affect a person reading it.

@Strokethefurrywall that is a good point about men, I stand corrected. Your post speaks many a truth

I just thought they were weird... I’m not judging anyone.... I’m not a sentimental person particularly so maybe that’s why I don’t get it.

Really OP? So this is not a judgy extract?:

*I’m on mush (I have no idea why as it’s full of huns) and someone recently posted about having their breastmilk made into jewellery.

Is this a bit weird or is it me? And a little indulgent as in “I’m very clever because I breastfed”? I just shuddered at the thought.*

Not judgy at all - I find it weird. I am allowed.

And my mush area is constantly having posts blocked because of MLM huns but I have made a couple of friends on there.

I breastfed, for a time, and it was hard. At no point had I ever thought of these!

And I shuddered as I’m a bit bleh about things like this - hair and ashes in jewellery do the same. Again I am allowed!