Donating Placenta?

[earthnut]

I've read that the cells and tissue of the placenta can be helpful in some medical treatments. Does anyone know of a place I can donate the placenta to, for medical treatments and research (rather than training)? I'm doing a home birth, so they would have to accept that, and I'm delaying cord cutting, so I can't donate the cord blood. Otherwise, I'll probably eat or encapsulate it because I'm at risk for postpartum depression, but I wanted to look into donation. Thanks!!!

[hapersmion]

LifeBankUSA sometimes takes them, but you have to call them to see if they need it right now or not. Try the customer service number on their website - I'll be calling soon.

We donated my son's placenta and cord blood to them almost four years ago. They are fine with homebirth - they send you a kit and then after the birth you call them and a courier comes out to your place. Ours got lost trying to find the Farm, but made it in the end.

You may still be able to donate cord blood even with delayed clamping! That's what we did, and there was still enough blood in there to donate. I don't think there was a lot to spare, and it's probably different for every birth, but waiting until the cord stops pulsing doesn't automatically mean you can't donate. I don't know if the company is interested in placentas without cord blood, but you could ask.

Oh, and I've also heard of people donating placentas to programs that train body-finding dogs!

[sharita]

I donated mine to my local midwife who was using placentas as teaching tools in her workshops at the time. She also taught a sex ed class at the jr high and used placentas if she had any on hand. I think Im going to encapsulate mine this time. if I cant get all the stuff or time to do it ill just give it to her again. Either way its going in the freezer triple bagged till I figure it out if dp doesnt get too grossed out by it.

[broodymama]

I donated my first one to a friend who trained SAR dogs. My 2nd one is still in the freezer, and I had my 3rd encapsulated. I want to have this one encapsulated also, it was really helpful with warding off PPD.