Lotus Birth and Eating Placenta

[gentleearthmama]

Is is possible to both have a lotus birth and eat your placenta? My guess is that you'd have to choose, because after a couple of days the placenta would not be fresh enough? Or if you salted it would it be okay? I suppose you could cut part of it off to freeze or cook, but I'd rather leave it intact. Anyone have any experience with this?
I want to have my cake (placenta) and eat it too.

With my last birth, we cut the cord after it stopped pulsing and I was NOT interested in eating the placenta (had thought I would but didn't really know enough to convince myself after I delivered it- didn't look too appetizing!). My MIL was my "doula" and I wasn't going to ask her to handle it!

This time am doing the Lotus Birth no matter what, and I'd love to have the option to prevent PPD also.
What are my options if I have any to do both?

[khanni]

Sorry, I don't believe you can have your placenta and eat it, too. I considered doing a lotus birth with my daughter, but ultimately decided to have my placenta encapsulated. My assistant midwife at that birth encapsulates them for you and is also very into lotus birth. She gave me a whole article on it because I told her I thought it was strange that people just cut the umbilical cord.

I hadn't really decided for certain when my daughter was born what I was going to do. I kept my daughter's cord intact for 2-3 hours before we cut it, and my placenta was still fine at that point. I actually felt right for her and me at that time to do so. My assistant midwife did tell me that if we didn't do it soon, she wouldn't be able to encapsulate it for me because it would start going bad. I am so grateful that I kept her attached for those 2-3 hours, too. I really felt it made a big difference, and she is a mellow, happy kid.

So...I totally understand the draw of lotus birth and completely support it. I also wanted to let you know that I am so grateful to have had the encapsulated placenta. I still had some in the freezer during this pregnancy. I felt like crap throughout most of this pregnancy, and finally, at 26 weeks, somebody suggested I start taking my placenta pills when I mentioned I still had some. I did, and within a week, it was a complete change--I had energy, I felt good, I stopped puking, my iron went up, I was in a better mood.

I just wanted to let you know my experience.

[gentleearthmama]

khanni
Thanks so much for your valuable insight. I am going to have to really weigh my options here. I like that you were able to leave the cord intact for 2-3 hours, before cutting.
I want so much to have both!
Any other ideas out there?

[ann_of_loxley]

I just wanted to reply because I wanted to do both as well!!! But I dont think you can as the 'placenta' would 'go off' ...so you probably wouldnt really want to eat it then! lol

It was easy for me to come a dicision though as I have made one. I have decided that eating it is more benefitial if I get my natural homebirth. I am sure it will be benefitial for both me and my child as I will be happy and healthy and my breastfed baby will hopefully benefit from all of that. I will wait unil the placenta is born though before it cut.
However if things go tits up (lol) and any emergency arises where I require another section or just end up with a very traumatic birth (for the baby like forcepts/ventouse/etc) I will ask for a lotus birth then as I feel it can be vey traumatic for a baby and having a lotus birth in this case is more important to my child - having another section for me would be something I can work through though.

And thats just how I have weighed up the pros and cons of lotus birth vs eating the placenta when it comes to that time (hopefully next year!)

[khanni]

Hi,

I just spoke with my midwife who did this for me last time, and she said that she's gone up to 24 hours with the placenta attached and still been able to use it, but would not go beyond that. She said she felt, however, that the process is complete after 2-3 hours, which is how I felt when we cut the cord at that time.

She just got back from Bali and told me of a woman there who wanted a lotus birth. She had a planned homebirth, but ended up being transferred to the hospital for an emergency c-section. The midwives were able to convince the doctors to leave the cord intact and take the baby out while still attached to the placenta. They told the doctor it was against the woman's religion to cut the cord. Anyway, it was very healing for the mother to be able to do that in that instance. I thought it was really cool and that you might like to know, especially given ann_of_loxley's post.

Good luck with your decision!

[gentleearthmama]

24 hours? That sounds like a nice compromise.
I wonder if I kept the placenta floating in bowl inside a mini cooler full of icy water (not closed of course!) if that would extend the time at all?
Or would that somehow make the baby cold?
Thanks khanni and annofloxey for your input.
I am still pondering the whole thing.

[kaylee18]

I would think you would be able to use a sterile clamp to clamp off some of the placental margin and cut off a piece of the placenta on the side away from the baby with surgical scissors or a scalpel to eat. That way the cord could remain intact and you could still have some. :

[gentleearthmama]

Kaylee
Interesting thought.
How much placenta would one need to save for post partum benefits?
I am thinking of doing capsules.

[zoebird]

for PPD, rather than PPH, it would probably be better to process the placenta rather than lotus birth. for PPH, a lot of mothers will have a bite or two off of the back of the "fresh" placenta to stop the bleeding, and otherwise leave the placenta/cord/baby in tact.

[gentleearthmama]

Thanks Zoebird!
With my son's birth nearly 5 years ago I didn't have PPD or PPH.
This time I am a little concerned about PPD since I know I'll have more going on in my life than a newborn and not alot of resting time.
I am loving all the comments and suggestions.
Thank you and keep em coming.

[treehugginhippie]

Subbing as I'm thinking about doing this too...

[xixstar]

I had wondered the same thing as I want to eat it and dh was supporting the lotus birth idea.

think we'll prolly just end up with the eating it idea though cause I feel like my moods can always use as much help as they can get.

[MommaHeather]

I just read about people eating the placenta. It's an interesting idea... not sure if I will be able to do it... it doesn't sound appetizing... though I'd like to see more of the benefits before I decide against it completely...

[zoebird]

well, i think that if i were really 'feeling' the lotus birth, then i would look into other natural methods for preventing PPD. if there aren't any (and i believe that there are--might try Susun Weed's Wise Woman Herbal for the Child Birthing Year as a first resource), then i would move toward processing and using the placenta (probably in the dried-powdered-pill form to utilize it over time).

good luck with your process!

[gentleearthmama]

Zoebird
you're totally right! I don't know why I didn't think of that myself! Susun Weed has a great list of things for PPD- lemon balm, blessed thistle, figs, sprouts, bee pollen, royal jelly, ginseng, hops, and sarsaparilla are on her list.
And her postpartum depression brew:
1/2 oz dried licorice root
1 oz dried crumbled raspberry leaf
1 oz dried finely cut rosemary leaves
1 oz dried cut skullcap
2 tsp per cup boiling water for tea. 2 or more cups daily for 2 weeks-2 months.

The lotus birth is what I am more drawn too, ultimately, I just wanted to have it all! Since I have to choose, I think I'll take the lotus birth.
The placenta can be replaced by herbs should I get PPD, but nothing can replace a lotus birth! And I'll be taking alfalfa near the end of pregnancy to reduce the risk of hemorraging.
Thanks everyone for your input and suggestions.
Guess I can't have my cake (placenta) and eat it too.

[Hesperia]

I've been thinking about this topic and weighting out the choices for some time myself. Ultimately, I've always invisioned a lotus birth, so I think I am sticking with that, but this thread really helped me make up my mind.

Also, being a vegan, I risk feeling sickly from ingesting something so foreign to my body (although, not foreign).

I also like the 24 hour wait period, then clamp/cut. But, at that point, I don't think I could take placenta from bub.

Thank you for the thread, I often feel like I'm insane, no one even knows about lotus births/placenta eating, let alone debating the two, in real life!

[zoebird]

i'm doing lotus birth too. i'm psyched about it. i'm not worried about PPD at all, but it's nice to have a resources like Susun's book no matter what.