Placentas are the only organs created to be disposable. They are incredibly important for helping your growing baby get what they need to develop. If you want to get science-y about it, this article does a great job of breaking it down. If you’re looking for some fun facts about placentas, this article does a great job too. Many moons ago, I listened to a RadioLab podcast that talked all about how some of the cells from the baby actually do sneak back into the pregnant person through the placenta which we aren’t exactly sure why, but it does seem to have some protective effects for the person who grew the baby against some cancers, and well, I’ve kinda been hooked on placentas ever since. I loved the idea that I have some of my own children’s cells floating around in my body, and have honestly been fascinated about the effects on gestational surrogates by those same kinds of cells too! Maybe that’s just because I have a serious soft-spot for supporting surrogates as a doula & am a total geek like that though. I’m fascinated by the connection between the placenta and the development of preeclampsia too. I’ve seen enough clients with preeclampsia to not mess around with that possibility! Have you heard the one line about placentas in this Ani DiFranco song?
What do you do with placentas?
I encapsulate placentas for people that are interested in placenta-phagy and/or art. There are a whole lot of people claiming so many things about consuming your placenta, but I am a science-loving person, so I went to the data. The only really interesting research I’m finding is by this anthropologist, who is looking at much larger numbers for the data. Many of the medical studies I’ve seen are based on very few cases, and that isn’t robust data imho. Anyway, bottom line is that consuming your placenta under specific circumstances does not seem to harm you or your baby and could just be a placebo effect, but that is indeed helpful for some people. So I’ll continue to do it. I have been trained in proper preparation and food-born pathogens, as well as having had my process verified by multiple colleagues. I don’t ever do a raw preparation of placentas. My process is sanitary, and I can even prepare your placenta in your home if you’d prefer.
One last thing about placentas:
If placenta encapsulation isn’t your cup-of-team, there are all kinds of things that you can do with your placenta that do not involve eating it in any way. I’m an anthropologist, and some of the more meaningful ways that people dispose of their placentas are beautiful to me. The symbolism of this organ can be huge, and many cultures treat it with reverence by imbuing importance into the process of how it is treated after birth. Placentas can be an after-thought, or they can be part of the meaningfulness of your experience. You get to decide.
