...to think about getting a piece of breastmilk jewellery?!

[Celebelly]

I can't work out if I think it's a bit gross or lovely!

Basically, from what I gather, you send off a little of your milk and it gets made into a kind of powder/resin and you can have it set as a ring or pendant, etc. Visually it looks quite nice, from what I've seen, and given breastfeeding has been a difficult but ultimately v rewarding journey for us, I kind of like the idea of something to commemorate it when we're done (which hopefully is a while off yet).

But am I mad? Has anyone had breastmilk jewellery made? Do I need to give my head a wobble?

I'm very much hoping this doesn't extend to semen jewellery to commemorate his precious seed.....It's close.

But it’s just another way to try and monetise your memories and create a market and profit from women so in that respect I think it’s a load of shit.

This is it in a nutshell.

It’s like Christmas Eve boxes, naming a star or using a loved ones ashes to create a diamond. They might mean a huge deal to their owners, but deep down its a commercial enterprise which relies on people’s sentimentality for their success.

Feeding your kid isn’t amazing or worthy of commemoration

Actually it felt like both those things to me. Thanks.

Absolutely bonkers! Wobble that head!

Your milk grew a child, why is that not enough?

It makes me cringe personally but then again I did have one of my DS's teeth made into a necklace.
If it makes you happy just do it. You don't need our approval.

Feeding your kid isn’t amazing or worthy of commemoration, it’s ordinary.

Ordinary maybe, but if OP’s baby is 4 months or older she’s one of about 12% of women in the U.K. still doing so.

Each to their own. We all have different tastes.
I can see why people would want to keep a loved one close, with a bit of hair or ashes.
But, breast milk is something you produce yourself. So effectively keeping yourself close.

None of the above is something I would purchase, personally.

Surely the 'keepsake' is the child?

Ordinary maybe, but if OP’s baby is 4 months or older she’s one of about 12% of women in the U.K. still doing so.

Exactly this! Too bloody right people should be proud to breastfeed especially if it’s been a struggle for them. And for those who say it’s a bodily function, yes...but it’s one that needs carrying out several times every day and overnight too, often for many months. EBF can mean making many sacrifices for your child and not being able to just go out when you want etc. Yes it’s a choice but it can often be a choice that you are doing in the belief it’s better for your child than yourself.
So if you want a piece of jewellery made out of your breastmilk you go right ahead. My children are not ashamed or embarrassed about having been breastfed. Why would they be?

I kind of like the idea of something to commemorate it when we're done

Like a child maybe?

My children are not ashamed or embarrassed about having been breastfed

There is a universe of difference between your kids not being embarrassed about being breastfed and someone thinking critically about cheap jewellery made from excess breast milk.

Pretty sure mine weren't embarrased about being BF, one was until one, the other until three.

I'm neither proud nor ashamed, it was just a thing we did, until we didn't.

It doesn't make me better or worse.

All of these businesses are a rip off - yeah, send us your hair /ashes/milk from your pet /child /loved one and we'll DEFINITELY send you back a pretty stone which is totally made of the weird, perishable biological natter you gave us. We definitely didn't just bin it and send you out the same resin bead/manufactured crystal we send everyone.

Commemorating events/loved ones seems to be a universal human need, so don't feel bad about wanting to do it. But also don't just hand over your hard earned cash in order to receive something which has only symbolic value - you'd be better off spending the money on a piece of jewelry which will hold its value (second hand diamond, precious metal, etc) and ascribing the meaning to that instead. TBH, it will have as much to do with the actual biological process as something which claims to have been created from the ashes/milk/whatever you supply them with (ie:nothing) and you'll get something of actual value and which won't gross out your descendents.

When moving house in June I found my 'box of memories' from DS, (my PFB), full of all his "firsts" that I passionately wanted to commemorate.

His first hair curl is there. So are his first teeth, his cord clip, plasters from his first jabs, the stitches he had when he first fell over, and my positive pregnancy test. At the time they seemed important to keep. Now looking back, I wonder what possessed me to keep a stick of my piss.

Breastmilk jewellery is tame. If this trend had existed when DS was a baby I'd probably have bought a crown. mental

Each to their own. I think it is weird and a commercial gimmic, but if you think it is lovely, then buy it, obviously everyone will have different opinions on MN but it's what you like that is important to you.

I think it’s weird. I can’t imagine looking at it in years to come thinking it was a good idea. When you are a new parent everything is so intense. All the little things seem like such a big deal. Then you have more DC and they turn in to toddlers and the preciousness definitely fades!

I think you are right AtSea, when you are in the baby stage especial with PFB some things seem magnified and take on great importance. But it fades as you get to grips with every new stage and subsequent DC you realise they weren't really.

I have to laugh. I’ve just looked at the Milk Diamonds website and in the FAQ’s it says ‘do you work with any other bodily fluids?’ To put your mind at rest the answer is ‘no’. Got me thinking though. A semen pendant, a urine ring?

I think when we have babies people get so immersed in this kind of stuff, the wonder of breastfeeding, it seems so important at the time, but it's just one phase of life and you'll never forget it. All this stuff about burying placentas in the front garden (with ceremony included), etc etc it's just a bit strange.

Yany, but that's my opinion. If you want it, do it.

What fresh hell ?

It's weird but I really like the idea of this!
Although just imagine there was some mix up and you ended up with someone else's breast milk in a piece of jewellery.. It's late and my imagination is probably getting the best of me.. but just think.. you'd never know would you?!

andys great, I'm glad you think so! You too!

placenta prints

It's a thing. They normally make it look like a tree or maybe it's meant to be a uterus, I don't know but there are pictures of them all over my doctor's office (not UK, but prepare yourself because if it hasn't reached you yet, it will.) I thought they were just random paintings for ages.

My doctor asked if I wanted one and I laughed. But I live in the kind of place where people will spend money on any old crap.

I had a charm made for my pandora bracelet with some small milk hearts, rose gold flecks and my DS birthstone- one year bf after a troubled beginning. No one else knows what it symbolises, just a pretty bead. Ordered from mom's own milk in UK

I was considering one after all the breastfeeding has finished. It's a bodily function but it was an extremely difficult and painful one to get to grips with. I am impressed with myself since I'd rather give birth again than establish breastfeeding due to the horrific pain it caused me, why shouldn't I congratulate myself on my perseverance and stubbornness?

It isn't that I'm a breastfeeding obsessed idiot who thinks formula is the devil, I mix fed dc1 for the first few months, fully intending to stop breastfeeding (bought a perfect prep machine before I even began ttc). Then ended up feeding him until he weaned off when I was pregnant with dc2.