What should I do with my placenta?

[claddaghmom]

DH made a couple smoothies for me after the birth. It is currently sitting in a bowl of goop (including membranes and cord) in the freezer.

I personally really liked the smoothies, but hacking at a frozen placenta is a pain, besides being comical.

Can I defrost it, clean it, cube it and then refreeze it? Do you think there would be too much bacterial growth? How long could I keep it? And how long is it beneficial to consume placenta anyways?

Do you get *more* of a benefit eating it raw as opposed to dried or cooked? How could I go about encapsulating? With an oven?

[barefootpoetry]

You can thaw it out, cut it up into cubes, then freeze the cubes in smoothie portions in baggies. I did this since I didn't get a chance to cut up my placenta right after the birth and it wound up frozen.

[claddaghmom]

Originally Posted by barefootpoetry

You can thaw it out, cut it up into cubes, then freeze the cubes in smoothie portions in baggies. I did this since I didn't get a chance to cut up my placenta right after the birth and it wound up frozen.

Do you think it would be "safer" to thaw it in the fridge, not at room temperature?

[JosieAK]

Um, since you guys are talking logistics, what else do you put in a placenta smoothie and does it completely taste like blood? Just two questions I've wondered while reading people's stories. We're homebirthing, and I've not decided what to do with the placenta. I can't just throw it out, but I don't own any land to plant it in and grandparents are kind of weirded out by the suggestion (even though I've offered a nice little tree to go with it).

[barefootpoetry]

Originally Posted by claddaghmom

Do you think it would be "safer" to thaw it in the fridge, not at room temperature?

I dunno what you mean by safer, but that's how I thawed mine.

Originally Posted by JosieAK

Um, since you guys are talking logistics, what else do you put in a placenta smoothie and does it completely taste like blood? Just two questions I've wondered while reading people's stories. We're homebirthing, and I've not decided what to do with the placenta. I can't just throw it out, but I don't own any land to plant it in and grandparents are kind of weirded out by the suggestion (even though I've offered a nice little tree to go with it).

I put regular smoothie stuff in it. When the placenta is raw it does taste like blood. I recommend freezing all your ingredients beforehand. I put about a handful of frozen placenta chunks, a handful of frozen strawberries, one sliced frozen banana, couple scoops vanilla ice cream, some milk, and a big squirt of honey. Blendblendblend until it's totally smooth. Very delicious and if you didn't know there was placenta in it you would likely not even be able to tell! The smoothies I made were big enough for one and a half glasses, so I gave DS1 some and he loved it. (He knew what was in it!)