Crafty moms are giving rise to a parenting trend on the photo-sharing social site Instagram. They are posting photos of their unusually artistic creations using their baby's umbilical cord as the medium.
Umbilical cord art has slowly been sweeping Instagram as mothers create fancy keepsakes using the very thing that falls off a newborn's navel in the first week. Glamour reports that if you browse through Instagram using the hashtag #umbilicalcord or #umbilical, you'll come across images that are both unsettling and fascinating.
The simplest idea on how moms make use of the dried umbilical cord is to form these into a heart-shaped trinket or to spell the word "love" with it. These are then framed as keepsakes, but other creative moms have also created jewelry or dream catchers with the baby's umbilical cords.
A photo posted by Alicja (@alicjacrumbs) on Feb 14, 2016 at 10:54am PST
Birth, and birth, and birth this week......!!! I am happy. That is all. #teatheroflife #umbilicalcordkeepsake #capsandtincs #placentaencapsulation A photo posted by Certified Placenta Services (@capsandtincs) on Sep 13, 2016 at 9:52pm PDT
According to Scary Mommy, umbilical cord art is not a new concept as there are companies that have long existed that provide parents the service to turn these into keepsakes. However, the latest postings on Instagram seemed to have raised the bar for creative ideas from moms who have been doing the creations themselves (DIY).
In January, Daily Mail featured a photographer-midwife, Emma Jean Nolan from Australia, who caused quite a stir when she showed the photo of an umbilical cord art. It was still attached to the placenta and was spelled out as "l-o-v-e," before the baby's family discarded everything. The photographer explained that the family is rooted in the Maori culture and they believe in the importance of honoring the placenta, thus the elaborate photoshoot.
Want to learn more about umbilical cord art? Check out the video below.
