Did you EAT the placenta?

[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]

.... .... no.

[StarFire]

JES KIDDING!!! ... 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!!

[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!