Eating your Placenta to prevent PPD... - Page 6

[vespersongs]

placentas in hospital

Hospitals do sometimes sell placentas. There is a market for them for cosmetic ingredients. I remember years ago my mother bought lotions and stuff from a company called "NuSkin" and one of the ingredients was "human placental extract". Heh...and we don't want to take it for PPD? But we'll spread it on our skin unawares. I'm not saying there's anything wrong with using it for that! Just funny.

Cornelia Enning gives a recipe for "butt balm" using placenta powder mixed with ghee (clarified butter). You can use it as a lotion for baby or you and apparently it has benefits for the skin.

Majazama,
My first birth was, indeed, perfect--7.5 hour labor and wonderful homebirth. Read about it at http://www.babycatcher.com/stories/vesper.html . It was just afterwards that I tried to get back to normal too fast, wasn't aware of the sleep deprivation factor, and hadn't considered my already existing hormonal imbalance...all of which contributed to, maybe not full-blown PPD, but definitely what is called "PP Reaction", which is what about 80% of women experience. Still, I'm anxious to avoid or alleviate even _that_. And since I think about 75% of it had to do with hormonal problems, I'm even more eager to do the placenta... I'll let y'all know how it goes!

[Full Heart]

Originally Posted by majazama

vesper~ well, if you have a beautiful, perfect birth experience, perhaps you won't need to take the placenta to help you recover. But placenta can also be helpful for PP hemorrage, and can help restore lost minerals and vitamens after pregnancy, and/or a strenuous birth.

Maybe the placenta didn't do it for me because I didn't leave it in it's raw form. I steamed it with hot peppers and ginger, and a little bit of water. But I also think it was becasue of my poor diet during pregancy too.

I wonder if the hot peppers made your sweat? Could have been the hormones though as I had terrible sweats mostly at night when I was pg, but that completly stopped when I ate my placenta. So you could have overloaded yourself with hormones.

I had a perfect beautiful birth and I still got ppd. For me it was def a hormonal imbalance of some sort I think.

And thank-you to all the ladies who said such positive things.



Michelle

[mamamoo]

Yeah, I had two hospital births, got ppd both times, then thought i would be fine with my third because i had a WONDERFUL amazing home waterbirth, and was fine the first two weeks, then it hit me like a ton of bricks, the worst ppd out of all of them.

ps see my public service announcement for my senior title??

[majazama]

Originally Posted by BrittanyD

My midwife recommended this to me and it worked wonders for me! I had my mom do all the steaming and slicing and dehydrating because I was too busy with my new baby.

1st steam the placenta, just like you steam veggies.
Then slice it up.
Put in the dehydrator for about 24 hours. Do this outside, because it's kind of stinky.
Then grind it in the coffee grinder and then put it into capsules that you can buy at any healthfood store.

I took about 2 per day for about 7 months and never experienced any post-partum depression (even with going back to work full-time after only 3 weeks!) I also think that the placenta pills helped me with milk production. I only wish I would've weened myself down to 1 per day sooner so that I didn't run out so soon!

Brittany~ I put my placenta in the food dehydrator for "just" over night (less than 12 hours), and it was pretty darn crispy in the morning. I don't think anyone should put the placenta in a dehydrator for more than 12 hours, but I guess there are a lot of different kinds of dehydrators around. Maybe some take 24 hours to dry stuff.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I guess I was lucky in not getting PPD after my second birth. But I really think that it had to do with my beautiful birth experience. Everyone is different, right?

[mamamoo]

Originally Posted by majazama

I guess I was lucky in not getting PPD after my second birth. But I really think that it had to do with my beautiful birth experience. Everyone is different, right?

Oh, no...I belive that can have something to do with it! I have suffered from depression throught my life, so I think mine is more a chemical/hormonal problem than a situational, which may be why you didn't notice a difference when you did take it. We all are definately different!!

[majazama]

mamamoo~ awesome senior member title, BTW You're spreading the message, good for you!

[mamamoo]

Thanks. I couldn't resist.

[Heffernhyphen]

In today's Parade magazine, there is a little piece about Brooke Shields and NJ First Lady Mary Jo Codey and their ppd issues. I looked Mary Jo up on the internet and read a little of what she had to say, but didn't see any placenta references.

[RosieTook]

I am so thrilled to have found this thread. I had heard about consuming the placenta, but I never knew why. It never grossed me out or anything, I just never thought about it I guess. Now that I know I am SO going to do it with the next babe. I had severe ppd, and I'm still feeling it a bit now, but I am ever so much better.

The thought that something as simple as consuming the placenta could make this go away, or be so much less severe is fantastic and so free-ing. I can't wait to try it, I think I am going to make pre mixed smoothie packs (frozen fruits and plain yogurt) so that I just have to toss it and a few chunks into a blender. Nice.

Thanks for this thread ladies, I am off to read some more!

[vespersongs]

It seems to be helping!!!

HI!
Arden was born Monday night at home...i caught her...what a wonderful and intense birth...i had to work so hard for her...a lot of myself to get past, and a very tough transition phase...

I took the placenta in a smoothie 1/2 hour after the birth. Lots and lots of fruit, and didn't taste _anything_ but the yummy smoothie.

MW set aside about 6 small pieces that airdried and DH so lovingly put aside his squeamishness and put the pieces in gelcaps for me, and i took 2 about every 12 hours.

MW also froze the remainder of the placenta, which after 1/2 a day to thaw in fridge was easier to cut into thin slices. I am dehydrating it in the oven as we speak, by turning the oven to its lowest temp until it's preheated, then turning it off and letting it dry in there. It's just about like leather right now; maybe 2 more times and it will be ready.

Then i will grind it in the mini food processer and gel-cap it.

MW says she only used to do this if the woman requested, but now she has seen enough women thrive on it that she is going to recommend it, at least as a mention...

I feel SO SO SO much better than the first time...even though the adrenaline has definitely worn off, and I have had a couple weepy moments, I am sleeping better, moving slower, nursing with more ease...I feel able to cope and feel good about being a mom to my 2 kids... and trying to see postpartum as an opportunity to savor, rather than a phase to dread and get past...I really think that part of it is the placenta...and a whole lot more of it is prayer, asking God for _joy_...who would have thought it?

Lots of love, and thank you Lord for a beautiful birth and baby...hope you guys will try the placenta! I'm so glad I did! Going to sleep now...zzzzz....

[Niamh]

CONGRATULATIONS! I'm so happy for you! And happy to hear about the placenta use!

[majazama]

vesperssong~ I'm so happy that the placenta worked for you! I'm so glad that you tried it.

[mystic~mama]

vespersongs congratulations

[TRIBE]

Hey mamas!
I have a placenta/ppd question. After my DD was born I had 2 placenta smoothies. It made me feel tons better as I had lost a lot of iron and energy. I was hoping it would help stave off depression as well.

And for 5 mths it has but now that my pp hormones are dipping my depression is smacking me like a ton of bricks. I still have part of the placenta in the freezer. Would it still be beneficial to thaw and dehydrate it for capsules? I need to do something fast as it will be weeks before the NP can see me for actual *sigh* drugs.

[EmmaJean]

Jenniebug, I would think that if you had great success w/ the placenta before, then by all means, thaw out the rest and take it. Even if it's not at its peak freshness, there's still positive qualities. Not that I'm an expert or anything.... Good luck!

[babydoll]

hmm...

it could be the morning/noon and night nausea but the idea of eating the placenta is a really great aversion to me. Maybe because I am vegetarian. The idea itself sounds intriguing (a lot of animals eat their own afterbirth). I wonder if their have been any studies on this - perhaps in other countries?

I won't be doing it, but the benefits (if any) are interesting.

[AngelBee]

Question:

Could you consume (via capsules) someone elses placenta? Would there be any medical reasons not to?

I am definantly interested in eating it during future births as I bleed alot afterwards.

[eorr]

I read (on this thread or another like it) that in cultures where this practice is the norm, a stew would be made for the birth mother using the placenta, and the other women would sneak bites of it. I don't see why not, if the placenta is a healthy one, but I'm certainly not an expert!!

[vespersongs]

go ahead!

jenniebug,
In the seminar I attended, Cornelia Enning (German midwife) said it could be used at any time, even for teens entering puberty (though I suppose at that point you'd have to call it a "vitamin"...eeew, mom, gross!) and menopause. So I'd say go ahead! Though if it is something not hormonally related but more of non-PP depression, I don't know. But try it first since you have it!

Also, I know that studies are done in Europe that we never hear about re: alternative therapies like this. Enning says there are labs in Germany where you can send your placenta and they will prepare it for you, even separating the maternal/fetal tissues. She said it's much more common there.

[myorganicbabies]

I was referring to raw meat...not veggies.
Lions eat raw and wild dead meat, I was referring to real wild animals.
I only eat organic and that doesn't mean everything i eat is raw and wild either.
I don't understand how you come up with "unless you eat a diet completly made up of chemically made foods then You eat raw and wild food".
However, I didn't mean my response to be mean....I just thought the idea was really alarming in the sense that it's hard to picture because I can barely keep a piece of steak down. That was the first time I have heard of eating ones own placenta.
I NEVER SUGGESTED ANYONE NOT TO DO IT, I just said that I wouldn't . I also have read on the subject, after I saw the post. But i didn't realise freedom of speech is unwelcome on a post. Don't misinterprete what I posted. I can't believe that I got a response like this.....am i just automatically supposed to be ok with it....and if I'm not I can't voice my opinion????!!!! Isn't that hippocritical!!!!!!!!!
The more I read your posts the more i can't believe how mean you people got...are you still depressed or something? Your making me really depressed.
You had the nerve to call me mean for expressing an opinion....your outright BASHING ME.