Acupuncture Alchemy

Placentophagy is the act of mammals eating the placenta of their young, after giving birth. Most mammals do this as a natural intrinsic part of the birthing process. When I was 6 months pregnant, I watched our pet goat ‘Batface’ consume her placenta after giving birth to her first kid ‘Sonny’ on our family farm. I was totally in awe of the innate motherly wisdom of ‘Batface’. Regardless of the limited research on human’s consuming their placenta, something deep in my heart knew that almost ALL mammals worldwide consume their placenta for a reason!

In Chinese and Vietnamese culture, human placenta has been held in high regard for it’s medicinal properties. Other ancient cultures also have practiced rituals like burying the placenta in a sacred location to honor our primordial connection to mother earth (Maori) or at the front door of the family home in order to benefit the child throughout their life. It is now becoming ever more common in the western world too, with celebrities including Kourtney and Kim Kardashian and Alicia Silverstone all publicly talking about their personal decisions to consume their placenta and admitting to feeling better for it.

There is something about the innate knowing of wild animals and the organic rhythms of nature that feel so much more in alignment for me, including honouring the life sustaining ‘being/ twin’ (placenta) that was the conduit of life force between myself and my unborn child for the duration of our pregnancy and then consuming and absorbing it’s uniquely specific nutrients, hormones and spirit.

Becoming one with and embodying all that the placenta filtered, pulsed and communicated between me and my child since conception, the dreams of becoming a mother, the musings, wonder, excitement and the deep DEEP inner womb healing that occurred throughout pregnancy.

To me Placentophagy is synonymous with absorbing all of this wisdom into my being as a right of passage into motherhood.

 

The benefits of Placenta Encapsulation may include:

 1. Help the uterus to return to its pre-pregnancy state

The placenta has a high concentration of prostaglandin and a small amount of oxytocin, which are responsible for contractions and foetal expulsion during childbirth, along with placenta expulsion postpartum. For non-pregnant women or postnatal mothers, these hormones are responsible for the contractions and motility in the uterus that regulate menstrual cycles. These hormones are thought to help ease birth stress and assist the uterus to clear itself out post pregnancy and return to its pre-pregnancy state and natural cycle.

2. Reduce postnatal bleeding

Prostaglandin and oxytocin play a pivotal role in placenta expulsion and stem uterine bleeding from the wall of the uterus that was attached to the placenta. Consuming the placenta post birth immediately boosts the prostaglandins and oxytocin to assist in reducing postnatal bleeding. Some women who home-birth or employ the services of a professional placenta encapsulating specialist, will blend some fresh raw placenta up in a banana, blueberry, cacao super food smoothie. (I know for some people this information might trigger you to feel grossed out, however when you think about it, eating your own nutrient rich placenta isn’t really anywhere near as gross as drinking a different species (cows) milk or flesh, at least you know that your body is clean, has been well looked after and you know what has gone into it).

3. Replenish depleted iron levels

Placenta is rich in vitamins, minerals, enzymes, protein, iron and hormones. Many women find a decrease in the iron levels throughout pregnancy due to the little cherub that they are growing, taking what it needs. I know my iron levels dropped to alarmingly low levels during pregnancy and I felt that I had absolutely nothing to loose by consuming my placenta in an attempt to restore some of the iron and nutrients that had been lost.

4. Reduce postnatal depression

This is one of the main observations that women have consistently reported after consuming their placenta, a significant decrease in postnatal depressive symptoms in comparison to previous births when they had not consumed their placenta. All though more research on human subjects is needed. It may be due to the placenta’s capacity to restore hormones and its high levels of protein, and iron. In rare cases postpartum haemorrhage (excessive bleeding), can cause anemia and increase the risk of postnatal depression, anxiety and fatigue. The consumption of the protein, enzyme and iron rich placenta seems like a logical remedy and preventative measure.

5. Help to balance hormones

Post birth their is a dramatic decease in a woman’s hormones, it is thought that consuming the placenta immediately replenishes hormones in order for the mothers body to re-establish hormonal balance and make the shift from having a pregnant body to a non-pregnant body, a much smoother transition. Thank goodness!!! All the mothers out there know first hand what a hormonal and thus emotional roller-coaster the postpartum phase can be.

6. Natural pain reduction

Recent research has discovered an active substance in placenta called Placental Opiod-Enhancing Factor (POEF). It enhances natural reduction of pain by increasing the opium like substances that are released during childbirth. Having a significant reduction in pain postpartum, especially in cases of trauma and tears enables the mother to focus more on bonding with her baby and keep releasing the love hormone oxytocin for fast postnatal healing.

7. Boost energy levels

Many women have reported a boost of energy almost immediately after taking their pills. I personally loved taking my encapsulated placenta pills and noticed a huge boost in my energy, mood and spirit. I was actually really upset when I had finished them all! NOOOoooo I wished our placenta had of being double the size! (I tend to have a bit of an addictive personality when I’m onto a good thing and my placenta pills were the best thing ever since home made raw cacao)!

8. Enhance mother and child bonding

This is thought to be due to the hormone oxytocin within the placenta; oxytocin is often referred to as the ‘love’ hormone. Immediately after birth this hormone is released whilst holding your baby’s skin against your skin and from your child breastfeeding. It encourages the placenta to be birthed in a ‘natural physiological third stage’. It also encourages the millions of blood vessels that are open immediately after the placenta detaches from the uterus wall to close and stop bleeding (preventing postpartum haemorrhage). Consuming the placenta in pills for the weeks following birth may give you a boost of the love hormone oxytocin and help enhance postnatal bonding.

9. Increase milk production

Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) uses dried human placenta ‘Zi he che’ to help with insufficient lactation. In a study on women suffering from an insufficient milk supply, 210 women were given dried placenta, the results concluded that 86% of the women reported to have an improvement in their milk supply within a matter of days.

Contraindications to placenta encapsulation:

There are a few circumstances where placenta encapsulation is not safe and these are very important for you to know if you intend on encapsulating your own placenta at home. Otherwise your placenta encapsulating specialist will no doubt discuss all of these in detail with you. A brief summary of contraindications include:

 Uterine Infection (chorioamnionitis)

If you suspect you may have an infection, a piece of your placenta can be sent to pathology for testing prior to encapsulation.

Pathology testing

If the entire placenta was sent to pathology for testing in the hospital, unfortunately it is not safe to encapsulate and consume due to potential chemical and or bio-hazard contamination.

Not refrigerated

Placentas must not be left at room temperature beyond 3 hours.

Not frozen

Placentas can be refrigerated for up to 3 days, after this it is very important to transfer the placenta to the freezer.

Smoking and heavy metals

There are copious amounts of heavy metals and toxins found in cigarette smoke, which remain trapped in placental tissue. The build up of these heavy metals may accumulate to an unsafe level for human consumption by the time the baby is born and thus is best to avoid consuming the placenta.

Thyroid conditions

There is some anecdotal evidence that, in some women, placenta capsules could potentially interfere with thyroid medication. Thus it is important to check with your GP or health care provider if you are taking thyroid medication or have a thyroid condition.

Placenta Encapsulation Services:

There is a plethora of placenta encapsulation specialists all over Australia and the world. In Australia placenta encapsulation does not yet have a regulating body and thus no formally recognized certification process. However there are many trained placenta encapsulation specialists that can be found online @Placenta Services Australia (PSA).

It is recommended that if you are going to get a specialist to professionally encapsulate your placenta, do your own research first and find the specialist who you feel is the best fit for you to work with. On the contrary many women, like me, choose to encapsulate their own placenta.

But… DIY placenta encapsulation is a blog for another day.

There are very few risks involved in placenta encapsulation when done correctly and so many benefits that have been recorded in various animal studies. Women the world over are constantly sharing new stories and positive experiences that they have had from placenta encapsulation. All though research on human studies needs to catch up, the subjective experiences of countless women indicates Placentophagy can potentially have incredible health and wellness effects on postpartum women. Not to mention that almost every mammal on the planet consumes their placenta post birth (the few exceptions include marine mammals, which I could only imagine it might be quite difficult to chase your placenta through the ocean currents postpartum).

In my opinion women have absolutely nothing to loose by choosing placenta encapsulation post birth. In a survey conducted by Placenta Services Australia (PSA), out of 153 women who consumed their placenta, 149 said that they would have placenta remedies done again for future pregnancy’s and 152 would recommend placenta remedies to other women.

References:

• Nutrients and hormones in heat-dried human placenta:

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10932499?dopt=Abstract

 

• Regenerative Medicine Using Pregnancy-Specific Biological Substances; A massive wastage of global resources. PREVIEW.

http://www.springer.com/us/book/9781848827172

 

• Placenta Encapsulation – Why placenta pills are booming

https://www.bellybelly.com.au/birth/placenta-encapsulation/

 

• Research on Placenta Encapsulation

http://www.placentaservices.com.au/research.html

 

Update 2018:

I have continued to look into and follow research on placenta encapsulation and wanted to add an after note seen as it has been a few years since I originally published this post:

I encapsulated my placenta after having my first son in 2016 and felt a huge burst of energy when taking my placenta pills, however I did notice that when they finished I experienced a crash in my moods and energy, for a few months I was even scoring highly on the postnatal depression test, (I was also EXTREMELY sleep deprived). My first son never slept well.

Its impossible to know whether the placenta had either prevented me from crashing earlier on or whether their powerful medicinal properties lifted me up so high that I had to come crashing back down…

I will say that I felt so strongly that I needed to encapsulate Octavius’ placenta. If you are feeling intuitively that it is right for you, your inner feeling and guidance is always the best guide. Listen to the words from your soul.

With my second son I had absolutely no desire at all to encapsulate his placenta and we actually chose to do a ‘Lotus Birth’ which means we left the placenta and cord attached to his umbilicus for several days post birth. This is another blog topic entirely.

The bottom line is that if placenta encapsulation feels right for you and something that you strongly want to do then that is the best guidance to follow.

Speak to your midwife, doula or maternity healthcare provider and speak to other mothers, but most importantly follow your heart. Sometime I feel that we make certain decisions for one child and different ones for other children because that little soul growing within your womb is letting you know what its wants and needs are too…