So what's with placenta eating

As I recently posted, I did eat my placenta. I did find that it was a pick me up on days when I felt a bit down. Due to cost concerns, I ate my placenta in a smoothie and honestly I could not taste it. I used Trader Joes' mixed berries (frozen, in a bag), mixed with some bananas and a chunk or two of placenta.

Honestly, I couldn't taste it and because it was blended in my very low-tech not top of the line blender... if you were to (safely) do the same, I doubt you'd notice taste or texture.

Some of my friends have had theirs dehydrated, ground and placed into gel capsules to take like any other pill. Others have had chocolate made, while I have heard of people cooking it and making a "dinner" out of it.

Really, if you're reading this and are pregnant, at least consider it if you have a history of depression or worried about the baby blues. Even if you aren't quite sure... honestly what do you have to lose? Sure, you can likely check the NIH archives for research on this topic and I'm sure you won't find much, if anything. After all, unless we start marketing placentas like foreskin to drug (in foreskin case, mostly cosmetic) manufacturers, there likely will not be money to research the benefits of placenta consumption. So if you're worried about energy levels or depression, perhaps this may help you out, maybe it won't... You may never know!

Yes I ate my placenta

Yes, I ate my placenta. No, I do not judge you for not eating yours. Placenta eating is a traditional way of preventing the baby blues and also probably the only organ a vegan can eat.

Here's the facts. Mammals eat their placentas. Whether or not you consider yourself different than or not an animal, we care for our young, so from 2nd grade science class, I'd say we're mammals. Whether kitties do it to prevent other animals from knowing there are newbies around, or because they know instinctively it is good for them, is not up for debate here. I'm merely posting this for awareness.

I did not eat the placenta from my daughter's birth. I had heard of it and thought . But two years later the story was different. I had a bit of the baby blues after my daughter's birth. I had read that many new moms have it worse the second time around. I had a friend who had a baby just a few months before I was due with #2 and she mentioned placentophagy and that even her husband had a "sip" - so I decided to look more into this forbidden topic. (For those wondering, no my husband did not consume any of my placenta). 

So here are some basics:
1) You need to plan in advance if you're having an out of home birth. Talk to your birth provider of your plans and have it cleared with them. If they give you a bunch of hassle, chances are they aren't listening to what you (the consumer, no pun intended), are saying, and you may want to find an alternative provider.

2) Determine how you want to consume it (raw, tincture, cooked, dehydrated, pill-form)

3) Determine how you'll get it home (unless you birth at home, of course)

4) Determine who will prepare it (you or someone whose been trained) - many states restrict the ability for it to be prepared outside of your home

5) Determine if you'll save some for menopause

6) Determine if you want to plant it

For us, we let our midwife know and she indicated it wouldn't be a problem at the hospital we had chosen. We were told to bring a cooler and that after the placenta was delivered, they'd check it for clots and other potential issues and if all went well, they'd double bag it as a biohazard and we could place it in our cooler with ice. It really was THAT simple.

My husband brought it home mid-day when he picked up my daughter from our friend's house and I rinsed it later that evening (we were lucky to be discharged from the hospital within 12 hours of my son's birth) and prepared it myself - really just placing it into the containers, as it was hot and I didn't have a dehydrator so using my oven was likely out. Darn Phoenix heat!

So what's IN the placenta? Iron for one. Likely tons of B-6 for energy as well. Both of which are known to help with depression.

Check out the Placenta Liberation Front for more information.

(No, I'm not a doctor, so don't consider this medical advice, Please and Thank you) 




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