Mothering Forum banner

Eating your Placenta to prevent PPD...

95K views 455 replies 226 participants last post by  Skyler 
#1 ·
I'm planning on drying my placenta (16 weeks pregnant now), grinding it up in the coffee grinder and taking in capsules. I heard that it is an excellent post-partum tonic. In chinese medicine, they prescribe it for people who have low energy. I also think it would feel good to take something back after giving so much (baby.... fluids...placenta...) It is the only meat that comes from life, not death. Don't (vegetarian) cows eat their placentas?

I don't think I could stomache "Placenta stew" or "Placenta stir-fry". With my first baby's placenta, I ate a tiny little peice, and that was all I could. The rest, I gave to my cats. I wish I had preserved it instead.

Has anyone else done this? Does anyone want to do it when you have your baby?
 
#28 ·
I would eat a small peice raw, like wash it down with some wine
right after the birth. Because the whole drying and capsuale thing takes many many hours? right? I deffenatly will be doing this If I ever have any more children.
I suffer from detramental PPD
Good
luck mamajaza
 
#29 ·
Thank you so much for starting this thread. I had never heard of eating the placenta before, but now it sounds like something I NEED to do. I had horrible ppd with ds#1 and am petrified of going though that again. Thanks for all the links everyone. I think I'll try a few bites (once my super conservative/shocked at hbing mom leaves the house) and then make the capsuls so it'll last a few weeks. Now I just have to figure out where we can hide it from my mom as she'll be going through our house and kitchen helping us out for about a week.
 
#30 ·
I started a post before, then my DD turned off the PC. So I'll make it short...

luvinmama~ That sounds like a tough situation. I think it's best to prepare the placenta as soon as possible. You probably don't want to freeze it, or have it in the fridge for a week.

Here's what I'm doing with mine (following the directions in one of those links)...
1. rinsing it off good
2. letting a lot of the surface blood to drip off
3. steaming it for 15 min on each side (till it doesn't drip blood when you cut it)
4. slicing it in 1/8 " strips
5. throwing it in the dehydrator till so dry that it snaps when broken
6. grinding it in the coffee grinder, and putting it into vegicaps

7. taking it with champagne, as is recommended somewhere


Maybe do this before your mom comes to help. You can always tell her to come later.... it's YOUR baby, birth, and placenta.

Good Luck~~HTH~~
 
#31 ·
Well, I thought I should update this thread, as I had my baby on july 9th........

So, my placenta came out after the baby and this is what I did with it----->
put it in the fridge as soon as the baby's cord was cut.

I didn't get around to looking at it much till about 2 days later, when I made myself "deal" with it (NO PROCRASTINATION).

I rinsed it off in the sink (which I later read that You don't have to do) and cut off the umbilical cord (to save for my DD)

I then placed the placenta inside of it's membranes (amniotic sac) and put it in a steamer with as little water as possible, a few peices of ginger, hot pepper, and lemon ( as advised in the directions I posted earlier)

steamed in on each side for 15 minutes (you might want to open the windows and turn on the kitchen fan if you don't want to smell it)

Then I left it in the fridge overnight to cool down. Once it was cool, I cut it into as thin as possible strips, stuffed it into the dehydrator, and left it over night in a room that isn't used much with the window open with the dehydrator sitting next to the window

So, I had my dried placenta, and I put it in the freezer in it's unground form in a glass jar (safe, and I didn't have to deal with it any more). I took it out a few weeks later, ground it easily in the coffee grinder, and encapsulated two vegicaps with it.

--------------------------------------------------------------
things I learned from this experience ... don't leave the placenta in the dehydrator overnight, it gets kind of burnt. Check on it often. Something I knew before I did this, do it as soon as possible after everything is settled.

I find that I don't feel the need for the placenta now that I've done it all. When I took the two "placenta caps", I kept burping up the flavor and it seemed like it was quite hard for my body to digest. But that could be because my placenta looked kind of unhealthy. It was hard for me to eat well in this pregnany as I had a rambuncious nursing toddler, and little cash to buy good food.

I also had an unassisted birth, so I felt quite empowered after the baby was born, rather than drained. I think that was a big part of why I was depressed after my first DD was born.

So I have perfectly ground dried placenta in my freezer. I'm thinking I will keep it forever. I've read recently that it's good for menopausal women, so I might use it then. And I also read that it can be good for when the baby has her first "night away" from mommy. I'm just not depressed, so I don't feel the need to fix something that ain't broken KWIM?

I really hope more women give special attention to their placentas, as they are so magikal... wheather you dry it, bury it, or whatever, it was a part of you and can really help you if you are feeling blue.
 
#33 ·
Well, as I was reading this thread, I thought, "Hmm. Maybe it's not such a gross thing. Sounds healthy and healing. Maybe, just maybe." And then I clicked on the link for pictures of it. No thank you. I'm sorry, I just can't. I agree with the other poster, that it seems slightly cannibalistic. I also have a very hard time touching raw meat with my bare hands, or swishing poopie diapers in the toilet. So maybe I'm just a wimp.

I think that if you want to do something like that, then go for it. Just not my thing. This will definetely make for interesting conversation with my DH.



ETA:
Oh, I posted before I read the update. Congrats on your birth! I'm glad that this seemed to work for you. O.K. So maybe I could swallow the capsules if someone else completely prepared them for me and I didn't have to smell it or see it raw. Maybe.
 
#35 ·
Well, I had some of my placenta right after birth in a shake. It was very good and I didn't taste the placenta at all. It was made with cream and strawberries, bananas, and kiwi whipped together in a blender with a couple of the pieces tossed in. It made me feel so energized right after the birth. I was really feeling drained afterwards since I hadn't slept through the night but after the shake I was fine. I never had PPD so I don't think this was a factor. I do have Crohn's disease and it is difficult for me to get the nutrients that I need. Using the placenta to regain some of those seemed only natural to me.

The rest I used to plant a tree. I am growing my daughter a California Redwood with that placenta. Some day I hope we can take a trip into the redwoods and plant it together. But, it is starting to really take off and may be too big before we make it back there. I guess Bellingham will just have to have a California Redwood growing somewhere. LOL!

Congrats to the mama who had an unassisted. I am glad to hear that everything went well and you and baby are doing well.

Peace,
Shelbi
 
#36 ·
thanks for posting your experiences with this, mamajaza and hippiemom! i'm planning to do basically a combination of what you two did, so it's great to hear real live mdc experiences with it.

i'm sort of fascinated by the whole a-part-of-yourself-you-can/should-eat thing. it's sort of pleasing and dizzying from a cyclical perspective, as well as for the health benefits. i'll keep you guys posted in november!

*jennifer
 
#37 ·
I posted this on a couple other related boards...since there seemed to be a few discussions going on!

You should keep an eye out for Cornelia Enning's book to be published by Midwifery Today, coming out within the next few months. It's called Placenta Recipes or somethign very similar.

I saw her speak in Denmark at the MT conference a few weeks ago and I previously had considered the placenta eating thing gross with a capital G. but now I see it VERY differently.

She talked abotu drying the placenta in the oven and pulverizing it into a powder which can be used for many things, including butt balm for the baby!!!!
But also for PPD and other things.
 
#39 ·
You could check with your midwife. Mine directed me to a mama that dries and capsulizes it for people. I think it was $50. It is so worth it!! I swear my experience was amazingly different than my previous birth(also at home). PPD many times gets worse with each birth(mine did until the placenta). I only wish I had known about it with my first birth...
 
#41 ·
I just spoke with my midwife (judy hagan, here in NJ--my 2nd HB with her coming in Oct) and she works with another lay midwife who assists her. This woman has exp. in preparing the placenta and is going to help me with it.

My plan is to dry 1/2, grind to powder and put it in veggie caps, then slice 1/2 into thin strips and freeze them...i'll do the smoothie thing...seems the easiest...

Never thought I'd want to do this, but for the terrible problems i had nursing the first time (which was corrected with domperidone, now not available as a milk-increaser in the US, so I'd have to go to canada!), PCOS and slight touch of PPD. Anything that will help me with that...
 
#42 ·
I posted in this thread back in Sept. 04 and am happy to see that it has been bumped again. When my DD was born in late Sept. I did end up eating my placenta and I don't regret it in the least.

I don't know if that was the only reason why I didn't suffer from PPD or not, but I do think it helped tremendously and will do it again if I have another child.

I had planned to dry and encapsulate it, but ended up deciding that that method would be too much work. I tried it in a smoothie before I realized that, for me, eating it raw would be the fastest and easiest.
 
#43 ·
Does anyone know if it would be okay to dry and encapsulate the placenta if it's been frozen for 6 months? I've been undecided - was going to bury it in the yard and plant a tree for my baby but have had terrible ppd - still recovering - and would like to try the placenta.... except it's been a while. would it still be okay???

A.
 
#45 ·
* Preparation: My local midwife made capsules for me. She was a different one that the one I hired for my birth. She only accepts freshly born placentas within 24 hours. She dries them in a food dehydrator, then puts them in capsules. I received 128 capsules. The fee was $75, which I thought was steep, particularly since I wasn't convinced at the time that I needed them or would use them. DH drove the placenta to her house on Tuesday after the birth; I received the capsules in the mail on Saturday.

* Use 1: I started taking the capsules immediately to help with general post-partum recovery, particularly fatigue. The dose is 1 per meal; 3 per day total.

* Use 2: I stopped taking them the next day when I had breast engorgement because I was concerned that they were promoting milk supply, and I have had problems after each of my births with milk oversupply and severe, painful breast engorgement (and subsequent gagging, plugged milk ducts, and mastitis). However, if milk undersupply is your problem, taking placental capsules is *the best* remedy.

* Use 3: I started taking them again for post-partum depression. They are helping. They have protein, are easily digestible, are madeof me and for me and perfect for my body, and contain a variety of vitamins (such as B complex vitamins) and other things great for curing depression.

Cheers,
Caitlin .... whose beautiful baby boy is now waking up!
 
#47 ·
Cwaddick...thank you for posting you experience with this. I am going to try to find someone in my area that performs the placenta drying service.

If I can find someone like that, then I am planning to eat a small piece of placenta raw in a smoothie right after birth, then sending the placenta out for drying and encapsulating. Thanks to all of the mamas who have posted about their thoughts, research and experience regarding consuming placenta. When I first heard about it, my first reaction was ewww, but in reading more and looking into it it really resonates with me.
 
#48 ·
Hi, Just wanteds to chime in again. I had my placenta made into capsules, and I think the woman who did it for me charges very little, there is a lot of work involved, cutting, drying, crushing, then putting into capsules, not to mention working with blood products in the first place.
She charges $50, and I gladly would have paid more than that(she actually did mine free, I was one of the first couple she did) for the ppd relief I got!
 
#49 ·
i dried mine in the dehydrator then ground it in the coffee grinder. i put it in capsules then took a few a day for the first 2 weeks pp, then i noticed it was all moldy!! i was so sad. i still have the rest in a bag (very gross looking) because i wanna plant it under a rose bush in our backyard. i can't just throw it out.

 
#50 ·
Giving this thread a bump to say
If it wasn't for this thread I wouldn't have eaten my placenta. I gave birth 4 days ago and had my placenta raw in a a v-8 smoothie till yesterday am. I have been suffering severe ppd since the birth of my last baby and these last 4 days I have felt better than I have in 18 mos. It immediatly energized me, stopped my night sweats and I have actually been able to sleep. SOmething that previously escaped me. Dh was shocked to find me snoring! My bleeding is minimal and the baby has barely any jaundice. My milk came in less than 48 hour after the birth, but I haven't become engorged and my nipples are barely sore. This is #6 for me and this has been my easiest recovery. I don't know how long the effects of the placenta will last but right now I am so enjoying this!

Michelle
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top