University News Last updated 10 March 2015
A health expert has hit out at Kim Kardashian for joining the growing list of celebrities transforming their children into ‘accessory babies’.
A photograph tweeted this week by Kim Kardashian saw the reality star posing for a bedtime selfie, cuddled up with her one-year-old daughter North West who was donning a pearl necklace.
Speaking about the dangers of babies and harmful items like jewellery, Alison Edwards, senior lecturer in Midwifery at Birmingham City University said, “Kim is being so irresponsible as a parent and treating her child like an accessory baby”.
“Babies have suffered injury and even fatalities due to inappropriate exposure to harmful items that they’ve been wearing or dressed in. I’ve known of babies who have lost fingers after getting them entwined in threads from their clothes and there is clearly a high possibility of this happening with a pearl necklace.
“Not only that, a child could swallow and choke on elements of jewellery items. Kim needs reminding that young babies aren’t born with a gag reflex so her daughter wouldn’t cough if she swallowed something harmful. Why else do we have health warning on toys?”
In recent weeks, Kim Kardashian has been seen on the front row of several fashion catwalks with North West, including an appearance at New York Fashion week where the 20 month-old was photographed looking distressed.
The ‘accessory baby’ trend made the runway in Milan earlier this month, where models cradled babies during a Dolce & Gabbana show at Milan Fashion Week.
The parenting of ‘Teen Mom’ reality star Farrah Abraham also made the headlines recently over claims that she had dyed her six year-old daughter’s hair. Farrah also previously admitted to waxing her daughter’s eyebrows when she was three.