Placentophagy (the consumption of the placenta by the birth mother) has only recently resurfaced in our culture, and rightly so has garnered increasing popularity! The placenta is, after all, a pretty incredible organ; after sustaining, nourishing and developing your precious baby in utero for nine months, it is separated from your newborn and ready to offer you a host of benefits as a postpartum mother.
Many women who have consumed their placentas after birth report positive outcomes such as improved mood, higher levels of energy, alleviated postpartum bleeding, faster postpartum healing and recovery, better bonding with their babies, improved lactation and regularization of hormones following birth. Most people are familiar with the most common method of preserving the placenta, which involves dehydrating and encapsulating the organ.
However, there are a few other less well-known methods of preservation which Placenta Specialists frequently utilize. In this blog, I will list four different ways that your placenta can be preserved with a brief explanation of how each one works.
1. Traditional Chinese Medicine Inspired Method, or the Gentle Method:
As the name suggests, this method is inspired by Traditional Chinese Medicine and is the most common method of placenta preservation. The process involves lightly steaming the placenta, usually with various herbs, oils or cleansing foods. The placenta is then fully dehydrated, ground into fine powder and placed in capsules. It is consumed by the birth mother like any other pill, making it very easy and convenient to take.
In this form, the placenta has a shelf life of about a year, at which time the beneficial minerals and hormones start to become less potent. The number of pills yielded by this method is incredibly variable; since no two placentas are exactly alike the number may range from 90 to 200 pills.
2. Placenta Tinctures:
Placenta Tinctures are made by extracting all the benefits of the placenta into a high-proof alcohol. The main attraction to this method is that it extends the life of your placenta by a very long time, far beyond the year that is recommended for the pills. Many moms choose to save some of their placenta tincture to help with regulating hormones when they begin menopause later in life.
As only a little bit of placenta is required to make a 2-ounce tincture, this method will yield a huge supply! So huge, in fact, that most Moms will choose to have only a small portion of their placentas made into a tincture and will prepare the rest using a different method. Tinctures can be made using a piece of raw placenta, but the more common method and the one always used by My KC Doula placenta encapsulators is to infuse the alcohol using the already dehydrated placenta powder.
3. Placenta Salves:
Placenta salves are an amazing way to get tons of extra benefits from your preserved placenta. The placenta is like a gift that truly keeps giving; the healing properties that do so much for Mom when taken internally can also do amazing things for her skin! Placenta salves are renowned for almost any skin ailment and can be used for C-section scars, perineal tearing, dry or cracked nipples, baby's diaper rash, eczema, burns and any other skin or deeper tissue troubles.
Salves are prepared using rich, healing oils such as virgin coconut and sweet almond oil, along with other essential oils like myrrh and frankincense. While salves can be made using raw placenta, they have an extremely short shelf life of only 5 days. For that reason, it usually makes more sense to prepare the salve using the already dehydrated placenta powder, similar to preparing the dehydrated tincture. The finished product will still be amazingly beneficial and will last much longer.
4. Raw Consumption:
This is exactly what it sounds like: the birth Mom consumes her placenta raw. Not nearly as common as the previously listed methods, it is nevertheless the only method that allows Mom to receive the stem cells in the placenta, which are only available in the raw, never frozen form. To make raw consumption more palatable, some women choose to blend bite size pieces in a smoothie, or dip very small pieces in honey before swallowing them whole. Raw placenta must be consumed within 72 hours after birth so if Mom wants to eat her placenta raw, its best to leave only what she knows she will consume and prepare the rest in a manner that preserves it for longer use. After 72 hours, whatever is left must be frozen and consumed as such, which effectively kills the stem cells. At My KC Doula, because of the increased risk of working with and consuming raw placenta, our placenta specialists choose not to prepare the placenta raw in any form.
As you can see, there are a lot of different options when it comes to preserving and consuming this amazing organ. One of the greatest aspects of having so many methods is that you can take advantage of more than one. If you want the majority of your placenta dehydrated into pills but would like to save some for much later use, then Gentle Method and Tincture is for you! If you have had a C-section or suffered some perineal tearing or know your babies are prone to diaper rash, you might choose to have some of your placenta prepared in a salve. The possibilities are endless and here at My KC Doula we exist to support you in your unique pregnancy, birth and postpartum period!
Blog written by: Samantha Stancliffe, Birth and Postpartum Doula
