‘People Want Jewelry With Meaning’: How Breast Milk Became a Gem

Mothers are memorializing their breastfeeding experiences with stones made from the liquid.

Alma Partida knew her breastfeeding journey was coming to a close in June. She had nursed her daughter, Alessa, for nearly 18 months — longer than most mothers in the United States do — and the process had not been easy.

First there was Alessa’s birth, by emergency cesarean section, in February 2020. In the hospital after surgery, Ms. Partida struggled to breastfeed. Once she and her daughter were discharged, nursing was still challenging.

“It was a really long journey,” said Ms. Partida, a 29-year-old speech language pathologist in Watsonville, Calif. Now that it was ending, she wanted to find a way to mark it.