From the article: The Amazing Placenta
So there are a lot of things that you can do with your placenta after giving birth. Many people look at it and then hand it over to the hospital. Some families do lots of fun things or even traditional things with their placentas. Perhaps you made a placenta print or had a Lotus birth. Some families practice encapsulation to prevent postpartum depression or even eat the placenta. Many families simply take the placenta and plant it or bury it in the yard with a tree or bush. Share Your Experience
Complete Hospital Lotus Birth
- My youngest was a complete lotus birth and she was born in the hospital. Yep...the actual labor and delivery. She was the first hospital lotus birth in Ohio. She made a difference to those that work with laboring and birthing women and for that I'm happy. After she released her cord she actually smiled so I know she was ready and had enjoyed all the blessings her placenta contained. We used sea salt, lavender, rosemary, jasmine, myrrh, frankincense, and goldenseal. It smelled heavenly and was always a huge surprise as folks imagine a meat smell. (It does when left natural.) Multiple tests were ran as an uneducated nurse called CPS because we were lotus birthing. Yeah...luckily my ob was/is awesome and he's now a HUGE lotus birth advocate. Just an example: a healthy newborn has a billirubin (jaundice) count of 14, yet my little one had a billi count of 2. Yes, 2. One Dr. said he didn't believe it and ordered a second test. Delayed cord cutting is healthy for baby. ~Honey
- —Guest Honey
Yuck!
- I simply can not comprehend why someone would eat a body organ. Would you eat a kidney if one was removed? Sooooo gross to me!
- —Guest DeeM
Encapsulated it, planted it
- When our newest was born we had the placenta encapsulated. I have been eating 2-6 capsules a day. It really improves my mood and energy, my older daughter has had some of the caps too. Her placenta is (still 4 years later) in the freezer awaiting burial in the yard.
- —Guest lllactasia
Ate it raw
- I ate mine in a smoothie over the course of the first seven postpartum days. I had more energy and felt better than after my first birth.
- —Guest Ruth Jaeger
Made a Raw Placenta Smoothie
- The best way to benefit from the placenta is the way nature intended, raw, as soon as possible after birth. I mixed about 4 raw placenta pieces with strawberries, blueberries and juice and drank it about an hour after birth. My bleeding almost stopped within hours and my milk 'came in' just 12 hours after birth. I had more energy than I knew what to do with and had to be told to stop scrubbing the birth pool, I just couldn't sit down.
- —Guest Lynnea
Encapsulated It
- However, my partner prepared my placenta for me because I was not capable of doing it for myself. I began taking the capsules on day 2 and they really helped me with strength and milk production (I had lost an estimated 50% of my blood). They also warded off a case of the blues that was starting to creep up. I would highly recommend this (based on my personal experience and from feedback from my clients) as a great way of replenishing oneself right after birth. The first two weeks PP are the most critical because it takes that long for the hypothalamus to resume the job of hormone regulation. In the meantime, the placenta puts iron and hormones back into the system, this way we're not running on empty for our first two weeks as new mothers (first-time or not, we need our strength!!). Don't let your precious placenta go to waste!!
- —Guest Laura Fortin
Gave it to the Hospital
- After I birthed the placenta we all took time to look at it and appreciate it. We took some pictures but then chose to let the hospital dispose of it.
- —maelli3
Placenta Prints
- We tried to make placenta prints. I had no idea how to do it. I just took some white butcher paper and basically slapped the placenta on it. It was a very faint print. I'd do it again but try a different technique.
- —LilMama
