I Ate My Placenta and Loved It!

Well sorta.. actually these are referrals from folks who used our placenta encapsulation services with Melanie Belk! Melanie has a biology degree  and is also the mom to four and a labor doula- although she rarely doulas much any more. She recently realized she had encapsulated over 100 placentas! She loves her work and here are some words from those who have benefited from that work! Here is a link to a previous client’s blog you may enjoy as well- L&MBLOG

melanie nasmyth

I used the placental encapsulation services for my third child.  I was petrified of having postpartum depression and anxiety … with two big kids in the house I could ill-afford to be blue.  My pills lasted for about two months and I don’t regret taking them one bit.  I do feel my energy was stronger and my mood was steadier than after my previous two births.  If I were having another baby, I wouldn’t hesitate to take the pills again.

placenta-pills-encapsulation

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I decided to give placenta encapsulation a shot after doing much research on the benefits of it (decrease in baby blue and depression, increase in energy, increase of breast milk, and provides natural iron just being a few of them). I figured let me give it a try, it defiantly can’t hurt. As per Melanie’s instructions I got my cooler and bag ready to take to the hospital. She was great as soon as my husband called her she was there to pick up the “goods” and the next day she already delivered them to me and I was already taking the pills. I really believe these pills helped me with the baby blues. Since the start of me taking the pills I felt like I stayed positive and energetic. Placenta Pills defiantly aid in healing a mother’s body!!!

placenta print

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Why Would I Eat That?

When most people hear about placenta encapsulation, their first response is frequently “Why??” with a disgusted look on their face. Admittedly, the first time I read about it, I thought tomyself, “I would never do that! What sane person would choose to eat her placenta?”

Turns out, almost every other mammal does, herbivores and carnivores alike. Most mammals go out of their way to consume their placenta with great enthusiasm after the birth of their baby, frequently taking hours to do so. They sometimes even delay caring for the baby to satisfy this instinctual need.

I’ve heard it argued that animals do this to clean their nest sites, in an effort to avoid predators, but this is not true. Even top predators like lions, tigers, and bears (oh my!), who have no one to fear, eat their placentas. Animals like deer and giraffes, whose young can get up immediately and walk away, also eat their placentas rather than just moving away from the nest site. They do not bother to clean up the blood and other fluids left from the birth.

If not for cleanliness or safety, then why are mammals consuming their afterbirth? Placentophagy — eating one’s own afterbirth — must have some other evolutionary purpose. Even so, a discussion of other mammals and evolution may not convince you that we, as humans, should consume our placentas. After a ll, we are a species apart. We wear clothes and live in buildings and cook our meat. We write poetry and build cathedrals. We fall in love. As a rule we do not smell each other’s butts or pick ticks off one another.

Our progress in medicine and hygiene is marvelous (who wants cholera?), indeed, but there are some things we’ve lost, or broken, when it comes to natural, instinctive care for ourselves. There are things we can find again or restore by careful study of the world and our place in it.

We know from watching other mammals give birth that childbirth is a normal, natural process, rather than the medically-managed mess we have made it. An elephant does not lie passively on her back while a doctor pulls her baby out with forceps. Nature teaches us that the essentials for giving birth are quiet, darkness, and safety. Animals seek out that quiet, dark, safe space and when they find it, they birth their babies. After giving  birth, they consume their placenta.

 

Have you ever seen a placenta? They are cool — really cool! (more…)