What's that thing called where people leave the placenta and cord attached to their baby for about 6 weeks?

[SpeedyGonzalez]

Am intrigued by it. Not in a 'hmm...maybe I'll try it out one day' sort of way; more in a 'Bloody hell that's bizarre! Must find out more' sense.

LOL at them seasoning the placenta! Did they do the dry-it-up-and-make-pills thing too?

I encapsulated my placenta

I enjoyed doing it actually. But that actually has some sense to it because there clearly are nutrients in the placenta (and it's done when the placenta is either fresh or has been frozen fresh).

But I would assume the placenta dies and goes nasty pretty quickly after birth? Hence the need for adding preservatives.

Now if nothing goes to the baby from the placenta at this point, I can't see the benefit. And if something DOES go to the baby, then surely it will be getting all the salt and dodgy herbs.

Everyone's choice, but I really struggle to understand the reasoning behind leaving the placenta attached long after the cord has finished pulsing.

It seems to me similar to wrapping your new born up with a slab of sirloin for a few days while it slowly goes off.
Surely soon after birth, after the cord stops pulsing the placenta has done its job. Unless you are going to fry it up and eat it for the iron content then it has done it is just a piece of meat.
Putting it in salt and herbs is just a way to stop it stinking.
I do think it would be an infection risk. It's all to wierd.
As for freebleeding surely soon after we came down from the trees we were using something each month for protection? How gross, no free bleeder is comming round to mine for a cuppa and expecting to sit on my sofa!

I was quite about the waiting 5 hours for the placenta to come out!!!!

Carmen "But I would assume the placenta dies
and goes nasty pretty quickly after birth?"
Might take longer than you think to go yucky. It comes out fairly sterile-ish I guess. We kept dd2's placenta in a plastic bag in a hot garage for 3 days, and we were pleasantly surprised to find that it didn't smell bad at all when we finally got round to burying it. It might've been fairly air-tight in the bag though...

MumNWL I've heard plenty of stories of women passing their placenta with no problems after even as much as 9 hours. Fishing them out in theatre obviously isn't always absolutely necessary.

Perhaps - but after 45 mins I got fed up waiting for my natural 3rd stage and I opted for the injection & cord traction - I was sitting on v uncomfortable birth stool and I just wanted to lie down....if you read the story she did have the injection and traction too just they didn't cut it. She's clearly much more patient than me.

I guess if you cut the cord you could get up and carry on with normal life with placent still in - no need to just sit around and wait for it? Unless it's horribly uncomfortable or something?