Did you EAT the placenta?

[Raene]

I am thoroughly grossed out by placentas...the idea that people freeze them and bury them, save them, etc just really freaks me out.
However, I had heavy bleeding the last birth (the one and only) and I've been reading that eating the placenta helps stop the heavy p.p. bleeding. Also, it supposedly, according to Chinese Medicine, cures Postpartum Depression. Anyone tried to eat it? I've heard of people making placenta smoothies! Again, I'm so disgusted. But curious...that bleeding during the birth really scared me...*maybe* enough to consider taking a bite...but I'm not sure. I've seen some people dehydrate them and make them into capsules...I just don't know...but I'm curious.
Then again, I've been vegan for 3 years, but I feel like being vegan to me is about not harming other animals...and the placenta, being made by me, wouldn't seem to go against my veganism.
:) Hope people respond!

[shakti17]

no....the midwife asked if i wanted to keep it....i was like "keep it, why?"

i love it as my son's "house" but that's it!

[heabrook]

You don't just "eat it" at least, most people don't...

My midwife took the placenta and "brewed" it with a few other things (like scallions, but she said that was mainly just to help the smell :) and then encapsulated it for me and I took it. It made so much that I have left over. It helps your body recover too.

[coco]

i respectfully planted it into the earth. the other one is in the freezer until the ground thaws.
what are you supposed to do with it exactly? you can't put it into the garbage, it's a human body part after all and tossing it into the trash is not legal (did you know it's also illegal to dispose of human feces in the trash? hello pampers landfill planet, where do they think those parents are putting the poop? weird).

eat it? no. though i kept an open mind about that, when i birthed it i had no desire or attraction to the thought of putting it into my mouth. and i sure wouldn't have cooked it up to eat it, i won't cook broccoli, i sure am not doing it with placenta.
perhaps if i had been in dire need of assistance healing after my births i would have looked at it as medicinal but rest and good food were all that i needed when my children were born. it isn't something i wanted at all.

[JennaBoBenna]

I've seen my pet rat give birth and eat her placentas and was just :eek: grossed out entirely! I know it's a natural thing blah blah...but...I don't know... :rolleyes:

[Peace Love and Rawness]

I had no desire to eat mine as well. However, my mom wanted to take it home and bury it. I thought it was a cool idea so I let her, but I don't think I would have had the time/energy to do that myself haha...

[Eva]

Oh my, this is the first I've heard of this idea. It's really fascinating!

heabrook: Were you raw at the time that your midwife made this special brew for you? I'm just curious. :)

[Eva]

And just a comment on this... I wonder if hundreds of years ago, that would have been commonplace. It seems that some things that in the past were seen as natural and normal... are now bizarre and unheard of. And vice versa; I'm sure that in the past, people would have been shocked by the things our society does to food and how much time we spend in front of the computer not exercising, etc.

Just a thought. :)

I've been oil pulling for almost a year now, and I'm sure most people (even raw) would find the idea of swishing oil around your mouth to be strange, but for me, it's been really helpful.

I guess ya can't rightfully knock somethin' until ya try it, whether it's raw food, oil pulling, eating placentas, and whatever else!

[Stina]

If we lived in undernourished, famine conditions, eating it could save a mother's life, restoring all of the lost nutrients.
I like the idea of people respectfully giving it back to the earth.

[dogmd]

yep..i ate mine. i steamed it, sliced it and dehydrated it . then put it in my vitamix and pulverized it into a powder. i then put the powder into gel capsules and took 6 a day for 2 months. i had a huge placenta. last pregnancy i didn't eat my placenta and much of my thick hair fell out at 12 months post partum. this pregnancy, my chinese dr instructed me to save my placenta and eat it... my hair is the best it has ever been...thick and long...hopefully it stays that way. sorry all lower caps.. i am feeding the baby while i type with one hand.

[Raene]

Well, it used to really freak me out, but I'm actually considering it now!
I want to have a Lotus Birth, meaning that you leave the cord attached to the baby until it naturally falls off--2-10 days, when it's ready, and then there's no risk of infection b/c there's no wound, and the baby often is better-adjusted this way.
But I'm thinking of also taking a small piece from the placenta, and actually what I've been reading is that you can just stick it in the blender with frozen fruits and make a raw smoothie. Sounds gross, but you know what, if it helps prevent pp hemorrhaging and PPD, why not try it? You can't taste it with enough berries. Maybe sounds disgusting to some, but whatever works...

[elfinbaby]

This is actually being discussed on www.mothering.com in Unassisted Birth right now. There are tons of threads on it and a couple of books. It's not an unheard of practice - but I operate in semi-crunchy to crunchy crowds.

For pp bleeding, you can just take a sliver and place it inside your cheek. Or take a cube and eat it. Or cut some up w/some oj and strawberries, blend well:p

I've never done it but I will this time. I'll need all the help I can get w/a speedy recovery since this will be baby #4.

[Raene]

Are you planning on UC? I am, but I only know of one other person who has done it. I go back and forth between feeling like we're just animals and can do what they do...naturally and without someone "coaching" us b/c our bodies know what to do..to being scared and thinking I'm a nutcase for considering it. Lol.

[trinity082482]

I don't think my man would kiss me ever again if I ate mine. ;)

[elfinbaby]

Actually, I am planning on a uc. I've had 3 hbs w/mws and this time I just didn't feel like a mw was necessary. Almost from the beginning of this pregnancy I felt different. I usually LOVE finding a mw, visiting, talking birth. I visualize a birth w/family around but this time was different. I felt private, protective, I couldn't see where the mw would fit in. Birthing is an awesome experience and I have only had very caring, "hands off" type mws but I'm ready to do this on my own. I'm looking forward to experiencing birth with only dh by my side.

I've had 3 hbs w/mws with no problems at all. My last birth I did the Hypnobabies homestudy course and I had the most amazing birth ever. It was quiet, peaceful, totally serene. The mw didn't really think I was going to birth that night yet I did:) I didn't make a peep (unlike my other births) until I started pushing. I think it's that experience that really gave me the confidence to know that birth CAN be simple.

Which leads me to the what if's and taking responsibility. I'm reading, taking notes on what I need to do in the event of a complication, checking off my personal what if's, eating right, exercising, tuning in. It's a big responsibility which is the part that nay sayers miss. No one is more responsible for the outcome than me and dh and that includes preparing and taking care of myself during pregnancy. I also spoke with a mw who is supportive and said I could call her if I needed her which takes some pressure off of dh.

Which leads me to eating the placenta, lol. I don't have a history of pph but if a sliver of placenta is going to be to my advantage, then I'll eat it:p I'd rather play it safe. Believe it or not - I'm not a risk taker. I know that may sound wrong to some but it's true.

I've been reading alot of uc books. My favorites so far are Unassisted Homebirth, The Power of Pleasurable Childbirth - big fave, Special Delivery. There are other good ones but those are my standouts. I should add that I've been reading preg/birth books since my first pregnancy in 1997 so there are many, many good reads about birth in general. This list is just my recent exploration of ucing. I also just read Journey Into Motherhood. It's a collection of birth stories which, honestly, I'm tired of reading. HOWEVER, this is a great collection that covers births in the hospital, home, and from many perspectives. All inspirational and thought provoking. Highly recommended.

[Raene]

Have you read Primal Mothering? I haven't but I heard it has a great story in the back about someone eating RAW and her baby just slipped out ever so gently.
I have read a bit too about UC and I love it. I really do. But I'm one of those people who freaks out at pain so I just want to make sure I'm totally ready to do it with the support of only my partner.
I LOVE the UC videos on youtube, too. They are soooo peaceful and beautiful. I'm just hoping I can have enough confidence in myself to do it b/c it does ideally seem to be the best way for both baby and mama.

[elfinbaby]

I have it on hold at the library so I haven't read it yet. I read a few things about the author on the internet and I've been hesitant to read it. It's a parenting book and, from what I read about the author, she made some wildly different decisions than I would concerning her daughter. However, I decided to order it anyway - it's the internet, you never know what the circumstances actually were and I can still benefit from the book regardless.

I did read Jinjee's Raw Pregnancy book though. Very helpful. www.thegardendiet.com

[Raene]

I haven't read Jinjee's yet, either.
I did hear the author of Primal Mothering had her daughter taken away.

[coco]

none of that has anything to do with the book which is a story of her journey towards being able to birth naturally. it's a terrific read, a really great book. that and the continuum concept were tow that i read at the beginning of my first pregnancy.

i had both babies on my own, this last one in the bathroom of our very rustic cottage with no one there but my 6 year old (he woke up for the last hour or i would have been totally on my own). for me giving birth was easy, i just sat back and let it happen. i don't think there is anything that we need to do to "make" it go a certain way other than to get out of the way and let it do it's thing. i know all women are different and that every experience is what it is but i think we let our heads get in the way a lot. i didn't even think about it, i just let those kids have their way with me and they both just came. easy.

[Raene]

Thanks for sharing! I often think we just make it hard by going to "have the baby" somewhere else...then it feels hard and makes us think we can't do it alone. I hope to not be in that mindset during this next birth. I'm all about being positive and letting things come to me.

[Suz58]

YES I ate the placenta after my last birth. I cut off a piece immediatly and ate that. It was fine so I cut up the rest into cubes and froze them. I then had a piece in a smoothie with half a banana each day untill it was gone. I felt fantastic. It was my second UC. The best way to birth! Check out http://www.unassistedbirth.com for more info. There is a great forum with lots of great help and advise. Its useful for any mums even if not planning to UC.

[penelopeB]

i understand, Placentophagia -- the pratice of eating the placenta -- has been observed throughout history in many parts of the world. In Western cultures, eating the placenta is often viewed as barbaric, but thanks to new information about the surprising benefits, there has been a recent push among young mothers to eat the placenta after giving birth. While many Western doctors discourage placentophagia with the claim that it carries no inherent benefits, studies have shown that eating the placenta can curb postpartum depression, replenish nutrients, increase milk production, and slow postpartum hemmorrhage.

But, I don't eat it.

[maggiesdaddy]

My wife considered it when our daughter was born, but she didn't know what to do with it and was scared (after researching) that she would do something wrong in it's preparation (since she didn't want it raw). We didn't have anyone in our area that had experience with this so she didn't do it, but she is planning on doing it when we have our next child.

The benefits sound awesome! She (and I) feel like the worst thing that could happen is that it doesn't do anything for her. It's worth a try!

[therawmichelle]

What an interesting topic! As far as i know, animals eat the placenta for extra nutrition, whereas human mothers have no medical or nutritional need to eat the placenta, because they can get all the nutrients they require from a supplemented diet after giving birth.
The placenta is supposed to contain a hormone that encourages the uterus to shrink to its normal size again, as well as oxytocin, which relieves birth stress and helps with the release of milk from the mammary glands. If you want my own personal opinion, which i would not want to force onto anyone, i find the idea of eating the placenta of your baby to be a bit of a barbarism. It is, after all, raw human tissue.

[Anais]

I did eat my placenta, raw and right after the birth. It felt right. I don't know if it changed anything, but I know I didn't have any postpartum depression which I had a little bit after my previous birth, and I bled very little. I felt very strong right after eating it, actually got up and took a shower. I ate half of the placenta raw and cut up, and it felt full of nutrients and gave me so much needed energy. I tried to eat what was left in the fridge the next day and it felt and tasted incredibly gross! So I guess hormones and texture of it change.... My poor husband and midwife who cut it up for me were so disgusted by it....

[StarFire]

http://i149.photobucket.com/albums/s43/FireStar_830/shock4.gif .... http://i149.photobucket.com/albums/s43/FireStar_830/faintingsmiley.gif .... no.

[StarFire]

JES KIDDING!!! http://i149.photobucket.com/albums/s43/FireStar_830/teehee.gif... I know that there are alot of cultures and peoples that do - and there are great benefits from doing so.
I didn't but - back when i was having my family - i was not very health oriented and so was very ignorant of a lot of things. I did believe in natural child birth and took herbs throughout my pregnancy - but i had never heard of eating the placenta until I became a rawbie and my 'horizons' expanded a bit. I do have friends that have eaten the placenta and some still have the umbilical cord in their freezer. hmmm... interesting, but I make sure not to grab jes anything from their freezer/fridge and eat it! (okay okay ... just kidding again!!) ... as those of you that know me -- yes I'm still sassy!! heheheeee!! :wuv

[Arky]

I may be completely wrong about this but I think I recall once reading that the placenta is a rare and valuable source of stem cells. If one can overcome the 'squeamishness' of the prospect of eating placenta, I can see that there must be many potential nutritive benefits.

If one freezes it, it will not have any significant taste and could, theoretically simply be swallowed as (small) frozen cubes (not generally ideal to swallow frozen things but an exception could reasonably be made, short-term). It would remain a lot more vital this way rather than dehydrating it - all one needs do to understand the shortcomings of dehydrated foods is read Pottenger's cats (even vegans could learn a great deal from this book).

In short, if I was female and giving birth, I'd make the effort and consume placenta in small frozen pieces.

I take my hat off to all you mothers who are courageously consuming yours! :)

[MysticTree]

I don't think there can be one rule for one type of raw meat and another rule for another type of raw meat. Either we eat dead raw meat or we don't. It's rather selective to say that placenta is ok but steak isn't.

[snoops]

That's what I was thinking but then again, you are not killing an animal to eat it, which is the reason many are vegan!

[MysticTree]

That's what I was thinking but then again, you are not killing an animal to eat it, which is the reason many are vegan!

but not the driving reason many are raw vegan - the ethos is that meat is not healthy for us to eat. It is a dead not a living food. It strikes me that many on this forum are not really interested in the living foods ethos.

[snoops]

I wonder if a poll has ever been done as to how many eat vegan for ethical vs health only reasons. As raw or striving to be raw vegans that is.

[MysticTree]

I wonder if a poll has ever been done as to how many eat vegan for ethical vs health only reasons. As raw or striving to be raw vegans that is.

It is my impression that very many people come to raw from a desire to lose weight and a considerable number of those would eat only a pink and purple elephant under a full moon if they thought they would lose weight.