Breastfeeding Necklace

Breastfeeding necklaces provide something for baby to look at and play with while feeding.

They help keep baby from being distracted while feeding; especially useful in public where often babies have a habit of pulling off the breast to look at something and expose Mum in process!

Breastfeeding necklaces also discourage baby from hair pulling, chest patting, pinching, scratching. Breastfeeding is wonderful and beautiful, but both my girls went through a pinching phase! I’ve also used mine to keep baby still on my lap while on a flight.

When I was feeding my first daughter I read about breastfeeding necklaces and thought they were a great idea. However, my simple beads with bells attached didn’t work for long -and then it broke! So when I had my second daughter I thought I should make something myself  that might work better. I envisaged something with a panel that would work like an activity centre for baby -but that didn’t make me look like I was hanging a toy from my neck. I was delighted with the result and so was baby Mabel.

Breastfeeding Necklace

Please note: this necklace is designed for the mother to wear whilst breastfeeding and not to be left with the child unattended.

Standard abbreviations used throughout.

Materials:

• Small amounts of tactile yarns, such as Sidar snowflake, Peter Pan velvet touch
• A larger amount of a cotton based yarn to hold the necklace together
• Small amounts of ribbon
• Buttons, bells, beads

• crochet hooks – use a size smaller than recommended on your ball band to create a denser/firmer fabric
• Large sewing needle

Motifs:
Using tactile yarns and ribbon crochet seven circles of various sizes. You can use any method of crocheting circles that you prefer. Combinations of different crochet methods work well and this is an ideal opportunity to explore new techniques.

An example of a treble crochet circle:
Foundation ring: Ch 6 and join with sl to form a ring.
Round 1: Ch 3 (counts as 1 tr) 15 tr into ring, join with sl st into 3rd of ch 3 (16tr)
Round 2: Ch 3 (counts as 1 tr) 1 tr into same place, 2 tr into each stitch of previous round, join with sl st into 3rd of ch 3 (32tr)
Round 3: Ch 3 (counts as 1 tr) 1 tr into same place, *(1 tr into next st, 2 tr into next st), rep from * to last st, join with sl st into 3rd of ch (48tr)
Fasten off yarn.

Assembly:
With cotton based yarn work single crochet edge around each finished motif. Work two stitches into each stitch as needed for the motif to remain quite flat.

Arrange the motifs and sew together securely. Work another single crochet edge around entire arrangement. Continue with a single crochet chain to form the back of the necklace. Finish with a loop at the end of the chain. Sew button onto the opposite side to close the necklace. (See photo for guidance)

Embellishment:
Sew buttons, beads and bells (these work very well to entertain baby) very securely wherever they look beautiful.

Tips:

• Sew one smaller crochet motif on top of another to create textured layers for baby to feel
• Look up simple tutorials for motifs that you like -I enjoyed learning how to crochet a spiraled circle in an amigurumi style
• Use plenty of colours or stick within a colour theme -contrasting colours might work well for newborns to look at
• Sew many buttons close together within one half of a motif for baby to feel the difference between the soft fabric side and the bumpy buttony side.
• Instead of using circle motifs the necklace might work well with crocheted flowers

It is great to be able to share this idea and I’m very excited to see what people make of it!