...jewellery that stores your breast milk as a souvenir of your nursing journey. Why has this trend suddenly taken off in Singapore? We find out.
You’ve heard of paintbrushes made from the hair of infants, or traditional Chinese stamps featuring a baby’s umbilical cord stump encased in liuli crystal. Now, the next head-scratching baby-related souvenir is made from yet another biological matter – breast milk.
They say children grow so quickly, which perhaps explains the popularity of such keepsakes to remind mothers of their little ones before they could climb, bicker or break their curfews.
While mums are currently polarised over the call to breastfeed – with some new mothers feeling intense and sometimes irrational pressure to do so – some who choose to nurse like to preserve the experience.
The trend of creating jewellery using breast milk – ranging from simple lockets and charms to even stylish accessories crafted from precious metals – started around seven years ago as international sellers on craft e-commerce site Etsy began offering such products.
Nursing keepsake
In recent years, craft-savvy mums here have been picking up techniques on preserving their own milk and those of fellow mothers.
“I gave birth last year and really wanted to get a piece of breast-milk jewellery made, so my husband suggested that we bring this into Singapore,” says Ryo Goh, who used to run a tuition centre and was an A-level economics teacher.
“It was a very rocky start, our sales numbers were very low and the very first batch of orders turned brown due to decay in the first few months. We scrambled to find a chemist to help us refine the breastmilk preservation technique, and devoted many sleepless nights to remaking the affected orders.”
Her business, Keepsake By Ryo, now sells an average of 400 pieces of jewellery a month.
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