Alison Brierley with placenta bootiesI fear I’ve opened a can of worms. Yesterday a feature I wrote for The Sun newspaper about mums who made unusual keepsakes following the birth of their babies was published online, and as I write there are currently 142 comments on the story on The Sun’s Facebook page. Mainly bad ones.

The main objection seems to be to taxidermy artist Alison Brierley who – quite naturally given she’s a taxidermist – made two pairs of baby booties out of the skin of her placenta (pictured, lit up by LED lights). Then there’s young mum Emily Jackson who discovered she loved breast feeding so much she had some of her milk solidified and set into a silver pendant to remind her of the experience forever. Comments range from the mild ‘yuck’ to ‘how sick’ to ‘they must be weirdos and freaks’. What’s the big deal?

Of course I’m taking these criticisms comments as a positive sign: if a reader feels compelled enough to actually spend time writing a comment to a story, whether good or bad, then I’ve made them think and done my job properly. But seriously, why do people get so het up?

I think having one’s breast milk set into a piece of jewellery is a lovely idea, and while I might stop at making hide out of my placenta (apart from the fact I wouldn’t have a clue how to go about it) I can totally see why Alison (who details the procedure in her fascinating blog) did.

On the upside, there are some positive responses too: a couple of mums admitted to having umbilical cord ‘stumps’ stowed away and more than one own a piece of breast milk jewellery. I bet there are more: the question just seems to be whether one is prepared to admit it or not…