Placenta « Back to Group Discussions

[sraplayas]

We have a great opportunity to have my placenta encapsulated and put into a tincture, etc. I am really excited about it, but DH is supportive but doesn't really "get it". Since we are spending some $$ here, just wondering if you who have done this with previous pregnancies could share your story (maybe it will convince him:)).

Also, does the placenta have big immune boosting properties? I developed mastitis 3 days postpartum with DS and though I was able to manage it without taking antibiotics, it did last 10 days and it was alot of work to keep from getting out of control. The only thing I can think is that it was immune related and wondering whether the placenta could help this sort of thing, in addition to keeping colds and flu away, etc.

Thanks!

[Nicole730]

I am not sure about the immunity part. I did it with my second pregnancy and I am really glad I did. I felt so much better. Not as out of it or brain foggy. I had energy and could take walks with the family within days. My bleeeding was almost gone within a week. My milk came in about 12 hours after DD was born. I had a smoothie hours after her birth. I only cried once in the postpartum time period and it was for a sad part in a movie. I am not sure how much of that was placenta and how much was just a different post partum experience, but I loved it. The best part was feeling as though my brain was my own. I swear I didn't get my brain back for like 5 months with my first.

[BroodyWoodsgal]

I'm actually thinking about eating more of mine this time...I really think the smoothies are a good idea and will chunk more of mine out this time and save less for planting. I had such a wicked bad PP period for the first few weeks PP last time and I ate hardly any placenta, so I don't know. With my first, I ate a lot and had an AWESOME PP period. Up and around, feeling energized and happy very soon after my birth, etc. With my second I was a wreck. Hated my DH, tired and depressed and crying. :(

Good luck. I really think it helps.

[calapitters]

I will admit, this totally grosses me out but...

I am very curious about it!  I had no idea that it could help with so many things.  Does anyone have any good links about this?  I would like to learn more.  

[Nicole730]

calapitters, it kind of grossed me out too.  I wasn't sure I'd be able to drink the few smoothies I had or ever swallow the pills.  But it was fine.  I could even tell on the days I didn't take as many pills that I was feeling different.  I almost wonder if it's the high iron content...  And even if it is just  "placebo" effect, it's still worth it to me. 

I don't know that I'd pay someone to do it for me though.  I am fortunate enough to have parents that are freaking awesome.  My dad cleaned and cut it up and then put it in the food dehydrator.  My mom ground it up and put it into pills for me.  This time around I think I will have a few more smoothies than last time.  I really, really couldn't taste it at all and it's easier that way.  Plus, I drink a smoothie almost everyday anyway. 

[Nicole730]

Oh and the more I think about it, I'm not sure there are really any immunity benefits.  I had a wicked cold and cough for about a week after DD was born.  Really, really bad cough, up during the night hacking into the sink. 

[sraplayas]

Thanks for your comments!

Nicole, you are so fortunate to have a supportive family! Really, it is such a blessing. Both of my parents are in heaven +, though I highly doubt my dad would have prepared the placenta for me!

I am still looking for info on immunity, etc. benefits of consuming the placenta. I don't doubt that it would be great for me, but it would be nice to have the info and also b/c I am trying to prevent another episode of mastitis! Other than that, my postpartum period (the first few months) was pretty great, though it would be really nice not to bleed for so long. :)

[Lite]

I'm going to look into this further.  Just not sure who will deliver my placenta to the lady that will do it. etc.  Need to talk to my Doula at our next appt.

some links i found:

http://www.placentabenefits.info/specialists.asp

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DVwN6x1nbg8&feature=youtu.be

http://thebirthingsite.com/product-reviews/item/315-the-benefits-of-placenta-encapsulation.html

[calapitters]

Thanks for the links, Lite!  

[mleawicks]

yah the thought of eating really grossed out this vegetarian. We are doing lotus birth so I don't even think you can eat it after 4 days. Best so I have read to make sure the baby gets the blood from the placenta anyway. less infection to leave it on. till it falls off. as I read about it it was i realized that its what people must have done for year 1000 of years.

[Sharlla]

i just cut mine into chunks, froze  and blended it into  smoothies.

[kjm279]

One of the included services that my midwives provide is placenta encapsulation.  At some point I need to read more about because it is the one thing that I haven't really looked into at all since starting 'research' on natural birth and the likes (7 years ago!), but we're going to have that done.

I would not be able to ingest it any other way, though.  Milk makes me queasy, mushrooms, bouncy noodles (mostly asian noodles), almost all meat, tofu, eggs (in any form), etc etc etc...  I have sensory issues and am also easily grossed out just thinking about putting certain things in my mouth... So encapsulation is definitely the way to go for me!

[wanderinblues]

i haven't heard of making it into a tincture, that's neat. i plan to just freeze mine in ice cube trays and make smoothies. it seems like the least labour intensive way to go for us. now i just have to convince DP to handle frozen chunks of placenta and make my smoothies ;)

Originally Posted by mleawicks 

yah the thought of eating really grossed out this vegetarian. We are doing lotus birth so I don't even think you can eat it after 4 days. Best so I have read to make sure the baby gets the blood from the placenta anyway. less infection to leave it on. till it falls off. as I read about it it was i realized that its what people must have done for year 1000 of years.

i think lotus birth is totally cool, but i doubt it's what prehistoric people would have done. almost all mammals eat the placenta immediately. this is of course partly for the benefits discussed here, but also to dispose of it so predators don't smell it and come to eat their young. meat attracts meat eaters and no animal would leave that lying around, attached to their weak newborn for days. humans would certainly have eaten, buried or burnt it pretty soon after the birth, i would think. just sayin :)

[BroodyWoodsgal]

Originally Posted by wanderinblues 

i haven't heard of making it into a tincture, that's neat. i plan to just freeze mine in ice cube trays and make smoothies. it seems like the least labour intensive way to go for us. now i just have to convince DP to handle frozen chunks of placenta and make my smoothies ;)

i think lotus birth is totally cool, but i doubt it's what prehistoric people would have done. almost all mammals eat the placenta immediately. this is of course partly for the benefits discussed here, but also to dispose of it so predators don't smell it and come to eat their young. meat attracts meat eaters and no animal would leave that lying around, attached to their weak newborn for days. humans would certainly have eaten, buried or burnt it pretty soon after the birth, i would think. just sayin :)

I thing this is true. I think that common practice for our species for a looong looooong time has been to immediately find something do to with the placenta to get it "gone"...whether that was eating, burying, burning, drying for other uses or whatever.  You just can't have a piece of meat like that hanging about and, many times, I think our species has needed to sort of get up and go or, at least, get up and back about your business, very soon after birth and sticking baby in a carrier on your back was probably necessary. I'm not saying you couldn't carry the placenta too...it just wouldn't be as convenient.

For the record...I think lotus birth is awesome. I would love to have a lotus birth but can't do it because I like eating some of it directly after birthing (I'm not sure it does anything beneficial...I wouldn't know, because I've never had a birth where I didn't eat it. But I do know that my birth followed by eating a lot of placenta was had a WAY better PP period than my birth where I ate very little. So, who knows! I'm not going to find out what happens with none at all and plan to eat almost every last bit of it this time. (I like to save part of it for planting a special tree for the baby!)

[mleawicks]

I read to that most animals eat it however I read that monkeys/apes stay on ground in hidden place till it falls off. then they go swing from the trees. here what I read

http://www.lotusfertility.com/Lotus_Birth_Q/Lotus_Birth_QA.html

[lia_joy]

After spending some time in a wilderness immersion out at Teaching Drum Outdoor School -- the purpose being to get a better understanding of what it would be like to live as hunter-gatherers -- I find it highly unlikely that primative people would let such an amazing source of protien and nutrients go to waste by not consuming it.

I recently encapsolated my friend's placenta and it was SUPER easy and not at all gross.  In fact, seeing how it cooked up I didn't even find the idea of eating it objectionable (and I'm not generally a big meat eater)  I detailed the experience on my blog with pictures.  If the sight of placenta grosses you out, you won't want to look, but for anyone curious about how it's done: http://www.liajoy83.blogspot.com/2012/02/placenta-encapsulation.html

For some reason I imagined it being more involved & that's why I never got around to doing mind in the past.  I'm so glad I got the chance to practice.  I will be doing mine this time :)

[3surfboys]

For the record, I've never considered eating my placenta - but I'm certainly intrigued by it.  I just wanted to add an interesting tidbit that I learned yesterday at an Acupressure for pregnancy workshop, the person presenting was a doctor in Chinese Medicine and he said that a mother needs to have "good quality blood" before choosing to eat her placenta.  His point was that if the placenta comes out looking unhealthy (a certain color?) it would be a bad choice to consume it.  My midwife has always examined the placenta with me, and as I recall she has said they look healthy.  I would assume a midwife could tell you if something was amiss with the placenta. 

[mudhugger]

I was so grossed out by this when my friends first told me about it -- one friend did hers up like liver and onions...blargghhh...I still can't quite stomach that.  But I was blessed enough to have a dear friend  (and her partner) homebirth at our house and live with us, and she ate her placenta.  Her partner cleaned it, cut it into chunks, and froze it, and every day I made her a huge berry smoothie...so of course I couldn't resist trying it.  (We are really close --lol)   It was just like a regular smoothie...I couldn't taste ANY difference.  I don't know if it was a placebo affect or not, but she was noticeably calmer and more energized like an hour after drinking the smoothie.  This was in the fall right before cold and flu season hit, and with all of the stuff that comes through our house she never came down with anything until 3months PP... so maybe it did help with immunity?  I'm definitely going to eat mine this time around-- I feel like it can't hurt, and now that I know there's no yuck factor as far as taste it seems reasonable.  Plus it's a great conversation piece-- "Are you going to plant a tree over your placenta this summer?"   "Nope, I ate it."  :)

[Nicole730]

I had a few smoothies with raw chunks last time, but mostly encapsulated. This time around I will probably have more raw in smoothies, I really couldn't taste it and it is so much easier than encapsulating. I was actually wanting to dig my remaining capsules out of the freezer during my first trimester this time to see if they would help me feel better, I didn't though.

[sraplayas]

Things have changed a bit since my last post and now we'll be doing the placenta on our own. First, we'll be transporting the placenta from the birth center home (about 1 our drive) about 6 hours after the birth. Any recommendations for a safe, sterile transport? I've heard the icecube tray reccommended, too and wondering how that works. Is there an instructional website for cleaning, cutting and storing? Smoothie recipes?

Is it really as bad as I've read for men to handle the placenta? I certainly won't be doing it 6 hours after the birth....