Placenta Encapsulation Anyone???

BabyBoyH92016

Hi Ladies,

I was wondering if anyone has ever had their placenta encapsulated before. If so, what was your experience? Anyone else out there thinking about doing it? I know there is no solid scientific studies showing evidence that eating your placenta will benefit you, but I am intrigued. I know someone who tried it with her third pregnancy and said her postpartum was much better when she took her placenta pills. My OB gave me a referral of a midwife that does it, and I am seriously considering it.

PSUBecky23

I haven't done it but I have several friends who swear that it helped with PPD. Can't hurt.

sunshinern96

I have not tried it and it's not really my thing but I am a postpartum nurse and I do have patients who save their placentas to take home. I just wanted to say just make sure that when you go to the hospital in labor, you tell the nurses and also doctors (probably multiple times!) that you want them to save the placenta. I have seen people who have a birth plan put that in bold letters across the top of the page, which is helpful too just as a reminder. Otherwise, they may accidentally get rid of it after the birth! At my hospital they put it in a nice tub with a lid and we keep it in the fridge for you until you are discharged. 

ETA- My patients who have done it really swear by it and feel that it does help with healing and postpartum depression, which is awesome.

SarahDarah333

I'm tempted but I'm pretty sure DH will think I've lost my mind.

RedMar

I thought long and hard about doing it last time. There is a lady that lives near me who comes to your house, cooks it and encapsulates it. 
The more I read about it, the placenta loses a lot of its nutrition when it's cooked. This is the reason I opted out. I am curious if it does help PPD or if it's just a placebo effect. 

yellowrose314

Well like you mentioned there's no evidence that says it does anything beneficial, but there's also no evidence showing it does any harm. I know friends who have done it and felt it helped, whether or not that's a placebo effect I can't say. As someone else said, make sure you make it known to your delivery team that you want it saved after birth. And also make sure that whatever pharmacy or business you take it to that does encapsulation follows appropriate handling procedures to encapsulate. In Canada that means it has to be done under sterile conditions. The only pharmacy in my area that does it got shut down for not following the proper sterile precautions.

homebird

I want to do this but I can't find ANYONE close to me who is certified. The closest is 3-4 hours away. 

mom2adoodle

I am thinking about it....my doula offers it as one of her services. She will make broth, smoothies, pills, you name it! I wish there was more concrete evidence as to why I should do it honestly. But I agree, it can't hurt. 

nativetexan512

I listen to "Healthy Moms Podcast" by Wellness Mama, and hadn't considered till I heard them rave about the benefits. As @redmar posted, I'm not sure how much scientific evidence there is to support, and a lot of it may be placebo. I would like any help getting hormones under control and back to normal, so I'll do a little more research.

AnnaS930

Definitely not for me. Being a pharmacist I am all about concrete evidence for things... to which this does not have. And the theory of "it couldn't hurt" doesn't pull me in to having any interest. My placenta is serving its purpose now, and will be medical waste when baby is born, no question

vampirina

Not interested in encapsulation, but I am going to consider donation - a co-worker of mine also studies biology and was talking about how cord blood and the placenta can be used for medical research, which is something I'm interested in helping advance. If it's an easy process I'll go ahead and donate, if not I'll just tell them to toss. 

AnnaS930

@PoodleDoodleOoo - Oooh, I'd be all about letting them inspect/dissect do whatever they wanted with mine... that's cool