Eating the Placenta
The other day I was reading some posts on a What to Expect pregnancy forum. A woman posted that her birthing center was sending her placenta home with her –on ice. She wanted to know what she was supposed to do with it.
I was really surprised by the responses she got as many women had an idea of what she should do with her placenta. I am wondering if you would be surprised, too.
Did you know some people eat their placentas? I don’t mean to offend anyone who has ever eaten their own placenta but when I picture eating a placenta a scene from Dancing With Wolves comes to mind. It’s the scene where the Native Americans kill a buffalo and then cut the heart out and eat it. I just remember blood dripping out of the Native American’s hand and blood getting smeared all over his face. Thinking about this is making my stomach churn even now.
So why would someone want to eat their own placenta? Well, apparently it is an excellent way to restore the vitamins, minerals and hormones back to your body. It is believed to help fight off post partum depression and create a quicker return to ‘normal.’
Some women suggested cutting it up, freezing it and putting chunks of it in a smoothie daily. Other women recommended having it encapsulated. For encapsulation the placenta is dehydrated, ground up and then put into pill form. You can also look up recipes online for cooking a placenta.
While I found all of this information fascinating, I personally couldn’t find enough scientific research to make me want to eat my baby’s placenta. But what about you, would you eat your child’s placenta?
GROSS! I would never eat it. That is about the sickest thing I have heard in a while! lol
that is gross…. and while I am sure it has those nutrients, and is very good for you ( did you know cows do this??) I still could never. EWWW!
you’re probably going to think I’m gross but if it was in pill form then I could probably do it… mine was abnormally large they told me, never gave me an option of eating it though haha Mine would have made A LOT of pills I’ll bet lol Interesting post, nasty picture lol Brings back memories of the delivery
Katie, You should have seen my sister’s boyfriend’s face when my family had a discussion about this topic. He definitely agrees with you!
Toni, I had NO idea cows ate their placentas! It makes me wonder if other animals naturally do it and why they do it. Do they want to clean up the blood, etc so it doesn’t attract animals who would prey on their baby?? My brother-in-law didn’t believe me when I told him what you said. So he googled it and guess what he found. He found a ton of videos of cows eating their placenta. I couldn’t watch.
Jessica, I definitely agree with you. If I had to do it, it’d definitely do it in pill form. There is no way I could chew and swallow my placenta!
Thanks for commenting ladies!
Kelly
They do it because their bodies crave the nutrients, it also it gives them some energy after labor, as well as survival so other animals don’t smell fresh blood. Yes, I am sure most animals do it. I could not watch it either, I’ve seen it in person, and I am sure for some reason it is MUCH grosser online!
Cats and Dogs do as well.
Andria, Do they really!? That makes me even more curious about the science behind it. I think more research needs to be done into it. I looked around online and couldn’t find any good scientific studies. Thanks for sharing!
Kelly
It’s actually an urban legend. There’s no actual medicinal benefit to eating the placenta.
People still do it, though.
So Cassie, have you researched eating the placenta as well? Well, tried to, I mean. Maybe you were more successful than me but I couldn’t find any good scientific research that said eating your placenta was beneficial. It was one of my more annoying researches because I couldn’t find good evidence either way. Thanks for sharing! and CONGRATS on your newest growing addition!
Kelly
Thank you! We’re very excited!
And yeah, there’s no real evidence that it’s beneficial, and if you think about it, there’s nothing about eating your placenta that makes sense. The only part of it that is sort of true is that it can boost your iron levels, but that’s because it’s human meat. If you cut your leg off and ate it, your iron levels would probably increase then too LOL. Eating any meat would do that. There’s nothing unique about the placenta there. And the other claims, about fighting PPD and boosting milk supply, well, there’s no scientific evidence whatsoever that’s true. I mean, people can do what they want but… that’s a pretty gross thing to do as far as I’m concerned with no evidence that it works!!!
And yes, animals do eat their placentas, but not higher order primates which are the closest to humans. The animals that do eat their placentas also eat their own poop. Enough said.
So interesting! Thanks for sharing Cassy!
i’m not sure that I would do it, because there are non-placenta vitamin supplements available to restore the nutrients leeched out by supporting another living being with your own body, but I do believe there are benefits.
Animals which eat their own poop eat it because they are not getting enough nutrients out of their food the first time around and are trying to survive. We don’t need to do that, but we are still mammals.