Placenta after birth

[emily11megan]

Has anyone here had the experiences of encapsulating (or eating) their placenta after birth, after not doing it in a prior pregnancy? What was the difference?

[stillparenting]

I'm taking mine in capsules right now. Baby is now five weeks old. Fourth pregnancy. Never did it before. Seems to really be helping.

[lava mama]

I had mine encapsulated after Baby #2, and I'll be doing it after this baby as well. I experienced pretty severe PPD/OCD/anxiety after Baby #1 and I thought I'd give it a try. After some cruddy local support when #2 was born, a move from CO to CA when she was 3 weeks old, and adjusting to life with 2 kids, I managed to hold it together pretty gracefully. I'd pay a million bucks to have the placenta encapsulated if I had to--I believe with all my heart that it helped me. I'm hoping to start my placenta encapsulation training through PBi soon!

[yentroc]

I encapsulated mine after #2 and I think it helped tremendously. My circumstances were a lot different, but I felt like I noticed a huge difference in energy levels while taking the placenta pills.

[inthepink]

I had my placenta encapsulated after baby 2. I am still having PPD but I would still do it again if I were to have another baby. I wonder if my PPD would be worse if I hadn't done but even if not, the energy that I got from the placenta was worth it. It is funny because I was initially really grossed out at the thought of injesting my placenta but once I did it and was staring down into that bottle with only 6 placenta caps left all I could think was "I wish my placenta had been bigger so I'd have more pills." I was really bummed to be running out.

[Lit Chick]

I ate little raw bits in a fruit smoothie immediately after the birth and 3 or 4 times in the first 2 weeks PP. Be it placebo effect or not, there has been a huge difference in my mood and ability to cope this baby. I did not have full blown PPD with baby #1, but I was exhausted and depressed and cried all the time for the first 3 months. This baby, I've barely had any blues! Part could just be experience, but I honestly think that the placenta smoothies helped me keep my energy up and my hormones on track, so I did not get into the spiral of not eating, not showering, not moving that I did with #1.

Ingesting the placenta certainly does not hurt!

[lachingona1]

I encapsulated my placenta 2 1/2 weeks ago. This is my 4th baby but first time encapsulating. I have been taking them everyday and notice a big difference in energy, and baby blues only lasting a few days. With my others I had baby blues for weeks and definitely didn't feel this good and energized.

[jksmith]

I'm about to do this for the first time (baby and placenta!) so I'll let you know how it goes.

I decided a long time ago that I wanted to ingest my placenta, even though it grosses me out a little, mostly because I feel like I should. It's an amazing gift our bodies give us to help us and our babies after the birth and almost every other mammal eats it. It's seems like such a waste to throw it away...

Also, I've gone through bouts of seasonal "blues" and my mom had PPD (undiagnosed) and I don't want to take the risk. I'm excited too because a friend is going to come visit after the birth and help me do it, so it should be a nice female bonding experience!

This is the recipe I'm using:

Dehydrating your placenta

Instead of cooking your placenta whole, you can dehydrate it and then add it to meals! The following method is extracted from an article entitled "Thinking About Eating Your Placenta?" by Susan James, which appeared in the winter 1996 issue of "The Compleat Mother".

Method:

Cut off the cord and membranes.

Steam the placenta, adding lemon grass, pepper and ginger to the steaming water. The placenta is "done" when no blood comes out when you pierce it with a fork.

Cut the placenta into thin slices (like making jerky) and bake in a low-heat oven (200-250 degrees F), until it is dry and crumbly (several hours).

Crush the placenta into a powder - using a food processor, blender, mortar and pestle, or by putting it in a bag and grinding it with rocks.

Put the powder into empty gel caps (available at drug and health food stores) or just add a spoonful to your cereal, blender drink, etc.

The recommended doses vary, some suggest up to 4 capsules a day, others just one. Perhaps the best advice is to take what makes you feel good

I haven't decided whether or not I also want to cook a piece and eat it like reg meat. Can anyone tell me what the taste/texture is like? Or what to eat it with, I know I've heard of putting in pasta sauce...

[FloridaBorn]

I had my doula encapsulate mine (it yielded 220 pills!!) but I don't think it helped not one i-ota.  I spend the first six weeks sitting on the couch in tears.  Now, I don't know if that's typical new mom stuff or what, but I was pretty miserable.  I didn't think the pills were helping and I stopped taking them.  Still have a shitload of 'em in the freezer.

If I had to do it all over again I'd just have a placenta smoothie or eat it raw like a piece of sushi.

[stellamia]

Huge difference in my energy levels and by far my fastest/best recovery! 

[neveryoumindthere]

In Chinese medicine, they use deer placenta for after the birth. For some reason I feel less queasy about eating a deer placenta than my own. *shrugs*

[jksmith]

I managed to get mine powdered, and some into capsules... but it takes forever! So Im adding the powder to smoothies now. Just a good bit of info for everyone considering this: strawberries mask the flavour very well, but bananas DO NOT! (imagine the taste of liver and bananas... same thing)

[bsaros84]

I did not have postpartum depression with my first baby. With my second, I decided to have my placenta encapsulated so that I could avoid going on Zoloft if I did get it. While the placenta pills helped in other areas (such as recovery, milk production, etc), it was not a cure for my current PPD. I do, however, feel that they probably kept it from being even worse than it's been. I plan on having more children and I would use the placenta pills again but for their other benefits, not necessarily for a PPD solution.