We know that animals in the wild consume their placentas after giving birth. In traditional Chinese medicine, as long ago as the 1500’s, a placenta was prepared for use by the mother, as it was believed to make a huge difference to the new mother’s mental health, recovery and well being.
Other cultures that also follow this custom are the Vietnamese and the Hungarians, as they too believe that the placenta is rich in nutrients and will greatly assist the mother to recover from childbirth and will help with milk supply. Several Hollywood movie stars have more recently publically endorsed this custom, especially elaborating on the benefits for postnatal depression (baby blues), thus increasing public awareness through the social media. Placental pills are widely used in the Far East.
Services for placental encapsulation are available in SA. Ideally the placenta must be refrigerated soon after the birth. The service provider will then collect the placenta, after which it will be very well washed and any clots or blood removed. Sometimes the placenta is then steamed with or without herbs, before the next step of dehydrating the placenta. Then the placenta is ground down into powder form and placed into capsules – ends up looking like any other herb in capsule form. One can expect to receive between 100 and 200 capsules, some of which can also be frozen for storage, if you want to use them for balancing hormones at a later stage.
The new mother can start taking these capsules as soon as she receives them, especially as one often goes through an emotional dip towards the end of the first week after giving birth. Mothers report no taste or aftertaste. This is the very time when there is a major upheaval in the mother’s hormone levels, and often women are iron deficient due to loss of blood during birth.
Unfortunately very little human research has been done in this field of placentophagy. However, from many human reports by mothers around the world, that have used placenta encapsulation, the following are perceived benefits:
- Helps to balance ones hormones
- Replenishes depleted iron levels
- Assists the uterus to return to the pre-pregnancy state
- Reduces post-natal bleeding
- Increases milk production
- Makes for a happier, more enjoyable post-natal period
- Increases your energy levels
Could the placenta be nature’s anti-depressant for those days after birth when lack of sleep, sheer exhaustion and lack of moral and physical support all seen too much to handle? Our fellow mammals that consume their placentas might be showing Western women the natural solution!
