Not sure what to do with your unwanted bodily fluids? Then you have to hear this idea. Why not go ahead and design a pair of baby booties made from breast milk in lieu of dumping it out in the sink?
Yes, someone really did this. British designers Nick Gant and Tayna Dean took the protein from breast milk that had been donated and turned it into a tiny pair of white, hardened baby booties.
Why on earth would they do something like that, you ask? Well, they did it to support World Breast Milk Donation Day.
Gant explains, "Turning waste material like breast milk which couldn’t otherwise be used, but which is embedded with meaning and personal history, into something new, gives the products created greater meaning and value. The aim is to highlight the importance of breast milk donation, and more broadly to challenge people’s perceptions about so-called waste products."
Wait a minute. If the goal is to raise awareness about breast milk donation, then why didn't they make sure the milk that was donated to make the booties went to a baby in need instead of turning it into a borderline-creepy personal keepsake?
Yes, it IS creepy. And weird. And pretty gross too. A few weeks ago, when reports came out about people turning breast milk into jewelry -- I thought that was, well, odd. But since the moms wearing the jewelry had it made from their own milk, I guess I could sort of see the significance in it. But using donated breast milk to make fake booties? I'm sorry, but I really don't get it.
Sure, it's a nice gesture and it's great that they believe in this cause and want to support it. But there has to be a better way than using someone's bodily fluids as a means of encouraging others to donate their own milk.
The couple plans on giving the booties to a donor on World Breast Milk Donation Day. And I guess we can only hope they're going back to the woman who donated the milk to make them in the first place. I mean, I know I wouldn't want someone else's breast milk sitting on a shelf in my living room -- would you?
Do you think these booties are weird or sweet?
Image via normannack/Flickr