Babies and children were decorated in various metals, wood, feathers, seeds etc. from the beginning of human history. During these early times, the "jewellery" was merely decoration, or to depict the baby's status, or rather the status of his/her family. Later in history, we know that jewellery also depicted religion, caste, or other attachments.
In Victorian times baby and children's jewellery began to look more like today's jewellery. At first, the jewellery was made to hold a bib in place, or in place of buttons, and these were the first baby brooches. There are many examples in Museums and in private collections and some of these brooches are as modern as today's. As these functional pieces evolved to become strictly jewellery, other pieces appeared. Baby and children's bracelets, children's necklaces and less often, rings. These items were generally made of gold and they were both ornate and also engraved with the baby's name, or simply "Baby."
Baby and children's jewellery has come a long way from these times, however, the classical design of Victorian baby and children's jewellery is just as popular today. Gold is still very popular but because of the increasing cost of gold, we now have far more sterling silver baby and children's jewellery items.
Whereas in Victorian times, baby jewellery in particular, was the domain of more wealthy families, today almost every family with a baby, has one or two pieces of baby jewellery, at least in Western countries. Mass production has brought down the cost, as has the advent of sterling silver baby jewellery, which is now more popular than gold.