Breast milk jewelry

Breast milk charm beads

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. 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 and tedious 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.[1][2][3]

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?)"[4] 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[5] and microbes[6] including but not limited to staphylococci, streptococci[7] that may be hard to diminish no matter the technique used.[8]

References

  1. ↑ "Breast milk jewelry helps mothers preserve memories". CBS News. 11 April 2013. Retrieved 26 September 2015.
  2. ↑ ABC News. "Breast Milk Jewelry the Latest for Nursing Moms". ABC News. Retrieved 26 September 2015.
  3. ↑ "New trend: Moms saving breast milk in jewelry". Fox News. Retrieved 26 September 2015.
  4. ↑ "How jewelry made from breast milk has become an unlikely trend among new mothers (but is it adorable or gross?)". Retrieved 2015-10-01.
  5. ↑ "How mother's gut microbiota can impact the microbial composition of breast milk" (PDF). How mother's gut microbiota can impact the microbial composition of breast milk. Fernández, Leónides.
  6. ↑ Bode, Lars; McGuire, Mark; Rodriguez, Juan M.; Geddes, Donna T.; Hassiotou, Foteini; Hartmann, Peter E.; McGuire, Michelle K. (2014-09-01). "It's Alive: Microbes and Cells in Human Milk and Their Potential Benefits to Mother and Infant". Advances in Nutrition. 5 (5): 571–573. ISSN 2156-5376. PMC 4188237 Freely accessible. PMID 25469400. doi:10.3945/an.114.006643.
  7. ↑ Fernández, Leónides; Langa, Susana; Martín, Virginia; Maldonado, Antonio; Jiménez, Esther; Martín, Rocío; Rodríguez, Juan M. (2013-03-01). "The human milk microbiota: Origin and potential roles in health and disease". Pharmacological Research. SI:Human microbiome and health. 69 (1): 1–10. doi:10.1016/j.phrs.2012.09.001.
  8. ↑ "Microbiology". www.ilri.org. Archived from the original on 2015-09-24. Retrieved 2015-10-01.

Further reading

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