Babble

I've been doing a lot of research about the health benefits of the mother ingesting the placenta following birth.  I am particularly interested in the argument that this practice puts hormones and nutrients back into the body, and particularly by taking in the progesterone, may alieviate the dramatic drop in hormone levels associated with post-partum depression.

I am 4 months pregnant with my first child and have a history of dysthymia (chronic mild depression). I choose to go medication-free when I became pregnant, and so far so good, but I've been warned that I'm at high risk of having a severe depressive episode after the birth. 

Has anyone here dried and capsulated the placenta for ingestion?  Did you feel there were health benefits?  I know it sounds bizarre, but a lot of the arguments make sense to me. I'd love to hear some opinions on this.

This is commonly done in most non-western cultures and non-mainstream births here in the USA. It does have an enormous health benefit for the mother as you have mentioned.  Are you familiar with the magazine and web community at Mothering.com It is a wonderful active non-mainstream community online and you might find more women who have done this.  I assume you're planning to have a natural unmedicated birth at home, since you do not want to ingest anesthetic and its not so easy to take your placenta home from a hospital (they consider it bio hazardous waste).

 

Just for some personal insight, it wasn't hard at all to take my daughter's placenta home after birth. The nurses at the hospital even supplied the container and made sure all of the afterbirth came home with us. You just need to let them know when you go in and gently remind them (or have a relative/friend since you might not be thinking about it at the moment) during birthing or surgery so they don't forget!

 

My wife and I just had a daughter who is 3 days old now and we kept our placenta.  One nurse told me a way to get it without a hassle was to ask for it so you can bury it under a tree you are planting in memory of your babies birth.  If you tell them you want to ingest it it throws up alot of red flags.  Goo luck,  I hope it works out for you.

 

Eric

(Proud 1st time father)

I didn't eat my children's placentas (hospital births), but a friend of mine did.

For the first two pregnancies, she didn't, but after serious post-partum with both (she referred to it as the "galloping heebie-jeebies") she decided to give it a try. She went of to have five more children, and no more post-partum, so pretty nice anecdotal evidence in favour of ingesting the placenta.

Her method was to cook and eat it. She'd been advised that the flavour was very much like liver (which it was), and so she simmered with onion, garlic, and a little worcestershire sauce, and ate it on a bed of potatoes or brown rice.

In general, supplements are very useful to people that are lacking in that particular item, and pass through those who already had a sufficient amount. It sounds like a good idea - the worst it can do is nothing, and it just might be the boost you need.

(p.s. Slightly ranging from topic, but other non-chemical mood-boosters include breast-feeding, valerian root, and sunlight. I battle chronic mild depression myself - for me, the year of breast-feeding after each pregnancy was definitely helpful, despite many stressful events during those times.)

 Carrie

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