Breast milk jewellery: what it is and how to make it
Becca Inglis
WriterMums and dads everywhere are embracing a quirky new jewellery trend, which turns your breast milk into a wearable gemstone. Find out why, and how to make your own
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You don’t get much more bespoke than a precious stone made out of your own breast milk! Breast milk jewellery has really taken off in recent years, for parents who are looking for unique ways to remember that special time spent nursing their newborn baby.
There are lots of breast milk jewellery makers around who can produce a stunning milk diamond from your breast milk for you, or you can buy a DIY kit and try making one yourself.
We took a closer look at this parental fashion phenomenon and found a few pointers on how to make beautiful breast milk jewellery of your own.
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What is breast milk jewellery?
Breast milk jewellery is a wearable keepsake with a centrepiece stone made out of a mother’s breast milk.
There are a few different ways to make breast milk jewellery, but the basic idea is that a small amount of your breast milk is dried to make a clay-like substance, which when mixed with resin will harden over time to make a stone.
At the end you get a smooth stone that looks a lot like an opal with a distinctive milky colour.
Wearing breast milk pendants has grown in popularity of late, and the trend has proven to be somewhat divisive – almost as much as breastfeeding itself!
Some people find the concept just a little bit … icky. Netmums user @Lis73rmp said, ‘I must admit I find the preservation of bodily fluids, organs etc quite off-putting. Personal opinion.’
Stay with us though. Fans of the accessory argue that wearing a breast milk necklace or charm is no different to another recent trend, turning cremated ashes into diamonds, or keeping your baby’s teeth or hair – something that parents have been doing since the Victorians.
Fun fact: when Queen Victoria’s eldest daughter knocked out her first baby tooth, Queen Vic had it set into a brooch in the shape of a thistle!
If you, like many other parents, plan on keeping your baby’s milk teeth in a special memory box, then you might be interested in a breast milk memento too.
‘I wear a pendant with my sons fingerprint and birth stone in it, cost around £70 . I don't really see a difference,’ says Netmums user @Alice P(126).
Why are parents wearing breast milk jewellery?
Breastfeeding, if you choose to do it, can be a really special bonding experience for you and your baby. Many mums miss that closeness when they start weaning, and wearing a breast milk diamond can help to commemorate that time.
One lovely thing about breastmilk jewellery is that each is unique to the mother who wears it. The nutrients in your breast milk adapt to your baby’s needs as they grow and develop, and that nutritional makeup will give your milk stone its own particular colour. If your breast milk has higher levels of fat, for example, your stone will be a creamier colour, while if it’s high in sugar it will have a more opaque appearance.
For some of us, though, breastfeeding is more difficult. You may experience painful challenges like mastitis or sore nipples, or your baby might simply struggle to latch on.
Wearing a breast milk stone can be a nice tribute to those hurdles and the strength it took to overcome them.
‘I am going to have one done to commemorate the struggles we have gone through and the successes we have had,’ says Netmums user @Sar35rlj. ‘Its a special substance to me. It's the thing that kept my baby alive for 6 1/2 months, something that I made, something no one else could do for her, and that is very special to me and I am proud of it.’
You might also consider wearing a breast milk diamond if you have had a miscarriage, or lost your child to SIDS.
Some women find that if they lose their baby in the late stages of pregnancy, then the body still produces breast milk, which can be a painful reminder of the family they had envisioned.
Getting a piece of breast milk jewellery made could be a touching way to use that breast milk and keep feeling close to your baby.
How to make breast milk jewellery
Different jewellery makers have their own methods for preserving and drying out your breast milk, but you’re usually aiming to get a powder or paste that you can reinforce with resin or glass.
Many parents prefer to send their breast milk off to a specialised jewellery maker to have it turned into a milk stone, but if you fancy having a go yourself then you can buy a DIY breast milk jewellery making kit.
The basic stages that you’ll follow are:
- Pump around 30ml (2 tablespoons) of breast milk into a plastic container. You only need about 5ml of breastmilk per milk stone, but it’s useful to have more in case you make mistakes, or want another stone made. Either send this to your chosen maker, or proceed to the next step.
- Heat up some water in a double boiler or a bain-marie and add your breast milk to the top half.
- Mix breast milk preserving powder in with your breast milk – when you are buying your breast milk jewellery making kit, look for kits that include a pre-measured sachet of this preserving powder.
- Stir the mixture until it has dried enough to form a paste. Remove from the heat.
- Spread the paste out onto a piece of parchment paper and leave to fully dry.
- Use a pestle and mortar to grind the dried paste into a powder.
- This is the part where you mix together your milk stone! You’ll need epoxy resin and a hardener (which will react with the resin to turn it from a sticky substance into a hard solid), which you’ll mix together with a pinch of your milk powder. If you wish, you could mix in some gold or silver flakes too.
- Pour your resin and milk mixture into a silicone mould and leave to set. This can take between 12-24 hours.
- Once dry, your stone is ready to pop into your chosen ring, necklace or brooch. Some kits will include pre-made silverware with a gap that matches your mould’s shape and size.
How long does breast milk jewellery last?
One thing you might be wondering is whether your breast milk jewellery will ever go off.
This will depend on the quality of the craftsmanship that has gone into your milk stone, as well as how well you look after it through its lifetime.
Theoretically, breast milk jewellery should last indefinitely, but if a manufacturer does not prepare the breast milk properly then your stone may go yellow, brown or show other signs of bacterial growth over time.
According to breast milk jewellery makers Mom’s Own Milk, discolouring will tend to show up after one month, although it may take up to six months to become visible.
Because breast milk jewellery is such a new invention, they add, it isn’t yet possible to say what your milk stone will look like after fifty years.
The good news is that you can use old breast milk to make your jewellery. That means that if you’ve frozen some breast milk, and your milk stone is showing signs of discolouring, you can thaw out the frozen milk and have a new stone made. Breast Milk Jewellery say that the oldest breast milk they have worked with was frozen for eighteen years!
Even if the breast milk in your pendant stone has been prepared properly, it may still be vulnerable to general wear and tear, especially if it is frequently exposed to UV rays, water or certain chemicals.
You can take steps to protect your breast milk jewellery by keeping it out of the sun, avoiding spraying it with perfumes, and taking it off while you’re in the shower.
Need advice?
Our health visitors and nursery nurses are on line Monday to Friday evenings to answer your queries on feeding, sleep and child health.
Curious to know more about breast milk jewellery, or breast feeding in general? Learn more in our articles, or join the chat on our forum:
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