Have you ever seen a mammal, aside from humans, give birth? Take a dog for example, after she births her young you will see her cleaning her babies. Nibbling at the umbilical chord. And consume the placenta. Why is that? Biologically, most mammals will instinctually eat the placenta. It has many nutrients that help restore the moms after giving birth. With all the blood loss during delivery, this helps replenish levels for mom.
How To Consume Your Placenta
Wondering which way is best for you to consume your placenta? Read below for some ideas.
Raw
There are a number of ways that one can consume their placenta. Some moms have no problem eating it raw. Yes, I said raw. Its advised that you swallow chunks whole as opposed to chewing it. I suppose thats for taste factors.
Smoothies
Ive also heard countless accounts of how moms would drop a chunk of their placenta into a smoothing claiming they couldn't even taste it. Check out an example recipe below.
Cook It
If you’re preparing your placenta yourself you’ll need to clean it, first by draining all the blood then rinsing it until it’s pink. Then you’ll have to cut away the umbilical cord and membranes.
Once it’s prepared, it’s no different from something you’d get at the butchers, so go ahead and roast, steam, sautée or flambée – wherever the culinary winds take you. Add herbs or garlic for taste if you want. See below for a recommended placenta lasagna recipe below.
Encapsulate It
I personally have encapsulated 2 of my 5 placentas. I would have done all of them if I could have. But with my first two, I was unaware of this practice. And with the other, there was meconium present and the hospital took away my placenta for pathology. Even though I told them I wanted to keep my placenta they decided to preserve it using formaldehyde. So at that point it was no longer safe for consumption. (For more information on how to keep your placenta after delivery click here)
Possible Benefits of Consuming Your Placenta
- Increased release of the hormone oxytocin, which helps the uterus return to normal size and encourages bonding with the infant.
- Increase in CRH, a stress-reducing hormone
- Decrease in post-partum depression levels
- Restoration of iron levels in the blood
- Increase in milk production
- More energy
- Less fatigue despite irregular sleep
- Enhanced mood
- Decreased postpartum bleeding
The placenta contains high levels of prostaglandin. Prostaglandin stimulates involution (a shrinking or return to a former size) of the uterus. The placenta also contains small amounts of oxytocin which eases birth stress and causes the smooth muscles around the mammary cells to contract and eject milk. There have been no studies of whether placentophagy provides hormonal effects in humans.
Some research has shown that ingestion of the placenta can increase the pain threshold in pregnant rats. Rats that consumed the placenta experienced a modest amount of elevation of naturally occurring opioid-mediated analgesia. Endogenous opioids, such as endorphin and dynorphin, are natural chemicals, related to the opium molecule, that are produced in the central nervous system. Production of these endogenous opioids is increased during the birthing process. They have the ability to raise the threshold of pain tolerance in the mother. When coupled with ingested placenta or amniotic fluid, the opioid effect on pain threshold is dramatically increased. Rats that were given meat instead of the placenta showed no increase in the pain threshold. There have been no scientific studies which show that placentophagy enhances analgesia in humans.
Is It Safe To Consume Your Placenta?
First things first, you will want to make sure that nothing was done to your placenta at your birth location. As I mentioned above, I was not able to encapsulate one of my placentas because the hospital added formaldehyde to it. So that made it no longer safe to consume.
Secondly, like any other meat product, it will eventually spoil, so you’ll have to eat it within a few days. You will also want to practice the same precautions when handling raw meat when you handle raw placenta. Having said that, you will want to go to your birthing location prepared. Have a cooler on hand and make plans to have it taken home and stored with an hour or two in the freezer until you get home to prepare it.
Lastly, ONLY THE MOTHER WHO BIRTHED THE PLACENTA SHOULD CONSUME IT. You don't want to eat someone else's placenta. And you don't want to be feeding your placenta to others. Thats right ladies, not even your husbands. This was an organ YOUR body grew. Consuming someone else's placenta exposes you to potential health risk with consuming their tissues and bodily fluids. And not everyone knows what could potentially be in that. So again, eating someone else's placenta or giving your placenta to someone else to consume IS NOT ADVISED.
My Personal Experience
I have both NOT consumed and consumed my placenta after delivery and Id like to share my experience. My experience may not be your experience but I think its still a good idea to share and you can decide if this is right for you or not.
With the deliveries that I did NOT consume my placenta I had a harder recovery. Keep in mind all my births were natural vaginal deliveries. I had more swelling and water retention without the placenta pills. Postpartum cramping was pretty painful and also lasted for several weeks. I also has baby blues and postpartum depression. I had issues with milk supply and breastfeeding. Although I think there were a number of things that contributed to my breastfeeding problems, I do believe that if I had consumed my placenta things may have turned out a little differently.
With the deliveries I DID consume my placenta I noticed a change in my mood. I was uplifted and happy. Not even a hint of baby blues or postpartum depression. It helped with my milk supply and as a result I had a much better experience with breastfeeding. I had practically zero swelling and water retention after birth. Postpartum cramping was not as severe and didn't last as long.
If you are in the Los Angeles area and are looking for someone to prepare your placenta for encapsulation please contact me. I offer this as part of my services as well.
