for those who consume placenta

[danou]

How did you do so?
Fresh, dried, cooked?
Did you eat all of it?

I just found out my ND who was going to do encapsulation is leaving town. So I'm left to my own devices... was thinking immediately post partum put some into a smoothie.... then dry the rest and make it into powder. (I'm thinking jerky)
I'm just not sure it'll get done. I can't seem to get past eating it like meat... hence the desire for encapsulation.

Anybody have placenta smoothie recipes to share? Drying techniques? Their experience with consuming placenta? Perhaps I am the only wack-job out there who's ever considered it.

[Zenful]

This is a great thread for placenta smoothie recipes

[Jacksonmom]

Placenta Encapsulation

After my third baby, I had pretty bad postpartum. So, after our first UC - baby #4 - I was determined to consume the placenta to prevent that. This is how we did it - we steamed it in a double boiler, with ginger in the water. Then, we dehydrated it (yes, just like jerky) and ground it in a coffee grinder. That powder I put into capsules and took them a couple times a day.

This time (baby #5) I didn't do it. In fact, the placenta is still in my freezer. I'll tell you now that I'll never skip it again. I didn't have the postpartum depression issue this time, but there are a ton of other things I am convinced it helped. My milk came in faster, my hair didn't fall out in clumps like it has EVERY OTHER TIME. I didn't have "brain fog" after my placenta baby either. Not to mention, just an overall sense of physical well being that I had. Unfortunately, it didn't even occur to me that all these things were placenta related until months later.

Anyway, it's a good thing to do. If we're blessed with another baby, I'll do it again. And, even though it does smell very strong, mine just smelled like liver.

[boheime]

I just swallowed pill sized junks. No cooking or anything. I don't think dh could have handled that.

[Raene]

I've heard smoothies are excellent...any day now, when this one decides to come out, I'll find out and let you know

[~RememberToForget~]

I've never even seen my own placenta's before because of my c/s...What do they taste like??

[lanielayne]

I swallowed a piece soon after birth and also a few days later. I felt great. Probably the best emotionally and mentally than ever PP. I would definitely do it again if there is a next time.

To me it was very similar to swallowing a raw piece of steak. Very doable IMO.

[sprinkle pocket]

my dh cut it into quarter (?) sized chunks and i had a cup of water ready. he would drop a piece in at a time and i'd chase it with the water. it slid right down whole. we did 5- 10 pieces at a time, each day. both of us have been veg. for over 1/2 our lives so i couldn't bear to chew it b/c of the meat association, but i desperately wanted it in me. he froze it flat-flat in a ziploc and broke off pieces each time. after they thawed, down they went. i plan to do this again, but maybe take 10-15 (or more?) each time. the way we did it took 1 1/2 or 2 weeks. it seems better to me to do it all at once or atleast in the first 3 or 4 days after. but that's just me. oh, i plan to save a little to make a homeopathic preparation, just to have on hand, too.

[onyxravnos]

i havent done it yet but i bought a DIY kit for putting it in capsules. .... can't think of the same right now but a little googleing should pop it up.

[Bitzy]

Dh (bless his heart) did all the prep work for me...he made me the strawberry smoothie from the sticky (excellent!!) and I also swallowed a quarter size piece shortly after the birth. I'm not sure how much it helped in general but I'm sure it didn't hurt either.

We only used about a third of it, the rest in still in the freezer waiting for us to pick out a tree to plant over it.

[guestmama9971]

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[BroodyWoodsgal]

I ate half of it raw over the course of a couple of days and the other half is in our freezer waiting to be planted under a special tree for just my DD which we will finally be able to buy and plant now that we've bought our dream home and know we'll be in this house for all of her growing up years.

Placenta is awesome. Period.

If it weren't for the fact that I want each kid to have her/his own special tree, I would have munched the whole thing...or maybe eaten half raw and half encapsulated.

[sunnymw]

I had several chunks to try and stop my bleeding right after birth, and then DH made me a smoothie and I couldn't even tell it had placenta in it.

Honestly I couldn't tell w/ the chunks either--he rinsed first and the placenta didn't even have any taste.

[amberskyfire]

I ate a large chunk raw immediately after the birth to stop some very heavy bleeding. The rest I ate grilled with steak seasoning over the next two days. It was DELICIOUS! I was squicked out by it until it started cooking and then my mouth started watering. It tasted and felt just like a hamburger patty except that the veins are very chewy so...a hamburger patty with rubber bands in it, I guess

[guestmama9971]

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[babykaoss]

Another vote for smoothies. I used strawberries, black raspberries, frozen mango chunks, and orange mango juice. I had a big smoothie every day, with a few chunks in it, and couldn't taste a THING. HONEST. I have one more day's worth and then I will have consumed the whole placenta. My recovery has been FAST and a lot easier than my other births. My moods have been a lot more stable and positive than the other births too, but I am only six days pp right now so we will see.

[joliebebe]

Any vegetarians who have eaten thier placenta? Im totally grossed out by it, but know that it can be very valuable.. any ideas? Encapsulating sounds good. How much does that cost?

[Sailor]

I was a raw food vegan up until a few months ago. But, to be honest, in the 5 years of being a vegan, I had to utilize extreme self control as meat called to me. It always smelled and looked delicious, and I craved it.

So ... I guess I'm not much help with the placenta.

Maybe, as a vegetarian, a smoothie would be easier for you. Make it a strawberry smoothie and you probably won't even notice any placenta taste. There's also the option of incorporating it into your dinners. For instance, if you made a quiche, you could blend the placenta with the eggs or tofu before adding all the other ingredients. You probably wouldn't notice it then either.

So far, my plan is to try it raw. Plan B is the smoothie option. But, I also have this weird urge to try some of it grilled. Medium rare like steak.

[lilmamabrown]

Where can I find more information about why the placenta is so good for you? I know that all other mammals consume it after birth and it makes complete sense to me... I'm just trying to figure out how to bring it up to my husband who will probably think I'm nuts

[Devaskyla]

I encapsulated my own. My mom bought me a food dehydrator a few years ago, so I just cut up the placenta into smallish pieces & dehydrated it really well. Then I crushed it and put it in capsules I had bought while I was pregnant. I just filled them by hand. It worked fine. The only part was having to stand there & cut it up at 2 days pp.