Are you going to eat your placenta??

What did you just say?

Eat my placenta!!

EEWWW!!  THAT’S GROSS!

Why would you do that????

The vast majority of us would never ever consider the idea of consuming a major organ such as the placenta, but actually it is becoming a very well recognised practice. Women in the immediate postnatal period, are choosing to hire a professional to collect the placenta which is stored on ice, cleaned and prepared, steamed, dehydrated and finally ground before being put into capsules. It can also be made into tinctures, creams and homeopathic remedies to provide the woman and her baby with all the incredible goodness that is said to be in the placenta, which would otherwise go to waste if it was thrown out.

“Wait – What goodness??”

Well, the placenta is an amazing well designed piece of kit!  Inside the Woman’s body it grows the baby and provides them with a continuous supply of oxygen, nutrients and vitamins.

As a result, when the baby is born, the placenta continues to hold onto these valuable stores which contain Iron (this helps the body to absorb oxygen), Stem cells (which helps the body to produce and repair body tissue) Vitamin B6 (helps with the production of antibodies), Vitamin E (which helps heal damaged skin) and Oxytocin (which is the hormone of love – vital for bonding and breastfeeding – leading to the production of other vital hormones) amongst many other health benefits.

Here are some other facts:-

• It is the only organ that belongs to two people at the same time.

• It’s blood supply is made of 50% of the mothers blood and 50% of the baby’s blood.

• It acts as a barrier, and picks and chooses what it needs to give to the baby at each moment.

• It sustains the pregnancy and grows the baby based on the various hormones it produces including:- progesterone, estrogen, cortisone, interferon, POEF (placenta opioid enhancing factor), oxytocin, and HPL (human placental lactogen).  These hormones fight stress, stimulate the immune system, stimulate iron production, lessen bleeding, and stimulate mammary function and milk production.

So essentially – by encapsulating the placenta and taking the pills shortly after the baby is born, you can ensure that your hormone levels don’t dip, as they are still coming into the body via the capsules.

The commonly reported beneficial effects of this are:-

• A boost in energy levels

• Increased iron levels

• Increased effectiveness of mother-infant bonding

• Increased & enriched milk supply

• Balanced moods & hormones

• Decreased incidence of the baby blues

• Decreased incidence of postnatal depression

• Reduced post-natal bleeding

• Faster recovery from birth

• General improvement in health and vitality

There are actually no reported negative side-effects to taking placenta pills.

Did you know that almost every other mammal chooses to consume their placenta, as they have an instinctual knowledge which recognises the enormous benefits. Whilst I understand that this may not be enough to convince you to eat your placenta, perhaps it can give you a little more understanding as to why it is becoming alot more recognised and recommended, especially to women who are prone to depression or are low in iron etc:-

So now that we have looked at this in more detail, perhaps the question isn’t “why would you do that?” but “why wouldn’t you do that?”

For more information and statistics on placenta encapuslation, feel free to visit the International Placenta Encapsulation Network:-  http://www.placentanetwork.com/placenta-statistics/