placenta lovin’

Lauren Derret - 29 Mar 16

Picture the scene, it’s a warm spring day, a ewe is gently birthing her lamb, unassisted and un-medicated.

There is a farmer waiting in the shadows, he knows how to lend a helping hand should he need to, but, he knows that this would be a very last port of call. The ewe is allowed to birth naturally without the pressure of interventions, pain relief and ticking clocks.

And then, when the lamb is born (unassisted) the ewe pauses, licks the lamb clean of any membranes and continues to eat her afterbirth. The ewe is not aware of any food safety standards nor of any social etiquette. The ewe simply knows that this is the natural order or things, questions nothing and ingests all the goodness that had been stored within the afterbirth for her entire gestation, it’s as nature intended!

Now skip to a woman, it’s a warm spring day, and she is birthing her baby.  The clock is ticking, the midwives are ever present and pain relief and interventions are expected. She was prepared; she attended a birth preparation course and is empowered, she chooses to refuse pain relief and interventions. Her baby is born (unassisted) and she pauses…..the afterbirth/placenta is delivered, bagged up in a yellow bio hazard bag and taken to the incinerator, disposed of.

This mother may not be aware of all the benefits this amazing organ has stored solely for her, home grown goodness that is the perfect medicine post birth. She’s may not be aware that she could ingest all the hormones, growth factors, iron and stem cells that her placenta have been harbouring for the entirety of her gestation. Post birth, she’s depleted of all this goodness and her body is already working overtime to restore it, alongside producing milk, healing internal/external wounds, stabilising hormone levels and restoring energy levels to enable her to care for her young, on minimal sleep.

We’ve come so far in the world yet in some respects we’re going backwards. We’re one of the very few mammals to not automatically ingest our placenta. Most placental mammals participate in placentophagy, including herbivores; exceptions include Pinnipedia, Cetacea,camels and, in most cases, humans.

We are clever enough to take a placenta apart and break it down, clearly showing us what golden post birth loveliness is stored inside, the list is readily available on the IPEN(Independent Placenta Encapsulation Network) website and makes bloomin’ interesting reading;

What other nutrients are found in the placenta?

• Stem Cells – stem cells are the body’s master cells and can transform into almost any type of tissue – from brain cells to blood cells.
• Iron – essential for oxygen absorption in the cells
• Vitamins B6 – aids in the making of antibodies
• Vitamin E – for healing damaged skin cells
• Oxytocin hormone – the ‘love hormone’, essential for facilitating birth and breastfeeding, bonding and love. Has also been shown to be a pain suppressent
• Corticotropin-releasing hormone (CRH) – responsible for reducing stress levels
• Cytokins – fibroblasts that trigger cell metabolism healing and replacing damaged cells and tissue
• Gonadotrophin: the precursor to oestrogen, progesterone and testosterone
• Prolactin: hormone that promotes lactation
• Thyroid stimulating hormone: boosts energy & helps recovery from stressful events
• Cortisone: combats stress and unlocks energy stores. Fights depression
• Interferon: stimulates the immune system to protect against infections
• Prostaglandins: hormones that have anti-inflammatory properties
• Hemoglobin: replenishes iron deficiency and anemia, a common postpartum condition
• Urokinase inhibiting factor and factor XIII: stops bleeding and enhances wound healing
• Gammaglobulin: immune booster that helps protect against postpartum infections.

And being such clever, evolved humans, how can we argue that this often forgotten about organ isn’t grown to feed and nourish our babies in utero and then to feed and nourish us post birth?

So why don’t we automatically book a placenta specialist to carry out some fancy smansy witchcraft? No questions asked if it’s the natural thing to do?

Our 2016 brains struggle with the idea of ingesting what could essentially be seen as a body part (eaten with a nice chianti and some fava beans right?) I’ve heard people liken it to cannibalism. Or what if you’re a vegetarian or vegan? Many these days are? What if it tastes like it smells (the smell aint great, not gonna lie)? We are so busy questioning why would we eat it, we’re blocking out all the proof that we should eat it! Our mammalian brains wouldn’t question it, but we’re so far evolved we can’t really hear that poor guy any more.

Placenta’s not really a word you hear banded about (unless you’re a birth worker where it’s discussed as freely as lady bits) so it’s still a bit underground in the masses. Imagine if our wonderful midwives handed out a useful leaflet explaining how you could benefit post birth at your appointments? If you had time to digest (yep good pun) the info and get passed the gag factor. You could benefit in an informed and excited way!!

There are many different options of how you could take all this goodness on board, you don’thave to swig it in a smoothie (although, wow what a hit) you could have it taken away, dealt with and brought back to you all packaged prettily with a little goody bag, this is the encapsulation option, a jar full of what could essentially be any vitamin tablet et voilà perfectly acceptable even for today’s judgemental standards.

I used the capsules on my 4th birth and I can promise you that by direct comparison my healing was 100% better! I stopped bleeding after a week, my hormones were completely stable, I had a shit load of energy (believe me you’ll want a shit load of energy if nothing else) and it was in what I can only describe as a dream like state for the postpartum period.

It was all just beautiful, floating on air beautiful. And I can only place the difference in healing after this birth to healing after the previous 3 as being that I ate my placenta!

Did you eat your placenta?

Would you eat your placenta?

For more information on services in Essex head over here and meet the lovely Kelly!

If you’re interested in the idea of hypnobirthing as your choice of birth preparation but think that’s it’s as far out there as eating your placenta, then check out this FREE mp3 and see if it floats your boat.

Lauren Derret

I’m Lauren, mum of 4 humans, each with their very own birth story. Red wine drinker, keen blogger, trash tv watcher and pretty hard core potty mouth! But, with a good heart and a passion for setting lovely women like you onto a path towards a positive birthing experience, and we’ll have fun doing it; always a bonus! I teach The Wise Hippo Birthing Programme and am a Doula Uk recognised Doula

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