4 benefits of encapsulating your placenta after giving birth
Scroll to the bottom of the page for the free balm code
I’m not going to lie, my first thought when I heard that people were encapsulating their placenta was, “you’ve got to be joking me right? Surely no one would eat their placenta”
When I was pregnant in 2018, I had never heard of keeping your placenta after birth, let alone consuming it. Then I heard about a few celebrities that were doing it and thought “here comes the next craze.” However, since becoming a birth worker, I hear about it a lot and the benefits reported by Mum’s amaze me every time. So what does “eating’ your placenta actually involve?
Placenta lasagne anyone? Chicken, beef or placenta with your Sunday roast perhaps?
Well, you will be glad to know that it doesn’t involve putting it in the oven at 200 degrees and eating it with a side of roasties. In actual fact, you don’t even have to see your placenta at all if you don’t want to. The “eating” part usually involves consuming either a capsule, gummie or smoothie which contains your placenta. You can also have your placenta turned into balm, creams, face sheets, tincture, the list is endless.
What does the placenta do?
During pregnancy we grow a whole new organ (how incredible is that?) The placenta is there to provide your baby with lots of nutrients and oxygen (amongst other things) to help them develop and grow. So, we know that the placenta is full of goodness then? Interesting.
What to do with the placenta after birth?
Once we give birth to our baby, we then birth the placenta too (either by pushing it out or having an injection), some people will choose not to see their placenta and it will be disposed off, others will leave their baby attached to the placenta until the cord naturally falls off (called a lotus birth), some bury it along with a tree and others decide to consume it.
Why consume the placenta though?
Well, let’s start with the facts, there isn’t a huge amount of scientific evidence to suggest there are benefits of consuming a placenta, however don’t stop reading just yet. We can take a look at anecdotal evidence instead (other’s experiences are always helpful to hear anyway) to see what benefits they report when it comes to consuming their placenta:
1 - Increased energy levels
2 - Enhanced / balanced mood
3 - Increased milk supply
4 - Faster recovery after birth
Whilst it’s hard to know how these women would have felt without consuming their placenta, we can see that people are reporting benefits. These benefits have been taken from the Placenta Plus website.
Different ways to take advantage of the nutrients in the placenta:
I would always recommend using a professional placenta encapsulation company to do any of the below things. Take a look at Placenta Plus, they are the only UK’s only laboratory-based company. Placenta Plus offer a range of different ways to use the placenta, including the following:
Placenta pills
Placenta gummies
Placenta tincture
Placenta baby lotion
Placenta stretch mark butter
Placenta face cream
So, what do you think? Is placenta encapsulation something that you would consider? It’s something that I will definitely be considering for my next birth. If you are thinking about it then why not take a look at the freebie Placenta Plus are sharing with us below.
Placenta freebie anyone?
Placenta Plus have given kindly me a code to share with you all. If you encapsulate your placenta with them and use the below code when ordering then you can receive a free balm worth £35. The balm is a blend of the superstar apricot kernel oil, calendula oil and beeswax.
Code: FREEBALMWF105WG
For full transparency, if you use the code above you will receive a free balm and I will receive a small cash percentage. This is an affiliate partnership.
Please always consult with your health care professional if you have any questions about placenta encapsulation and get in touch with Placenta Plus for more details.
Hannah x
Why not take a look at my other blog posts for more pregnancy and birth tips:
