Planting trees with placentas - can we make this normal?

[BerllanBrych]

This is my first new thread so bear with. My questions are:

1. Have you heard of this?
2. Have you done it?
3. Would you consider planting a tree with your baby's placenta?
4. If you think this makes sense and should be more widely known about, how can we go about sharing the message? I don't want to push, just raise awareness.
5. For those that wouldn't consider doing it, what are the reasons?

Our story
I'd never heard of this until our midwife casually suggested it mid-labour while I was in the birthing pool. We decided to follow her idea, and took the placenta home to sit in the freezer until we'd recovered from labour etc, and bought a sapling.
DS2 was born at home and by then we were clear that we wanted to do the same. So we had 2 fantastically nourished hazel trees growing alongside 2 kids.
This is a tradition in many parts of the world including some states in America, but it is not a common practice here.
The environmental benefits are a reduction in carbon emissions as placentas are diverted from clinical waste (incineration), and more trees to support biodiversity and store carbon. Plus you can get very clever with it, we know a Rowan who had a Rowan planted. Could go Ash for an Ash..

Would love to hear your thoughts.

Trees actually aren't that great at storing carbon. Well managed, diverse grassland is much better because the carbon is sequestered deeper underground.

@SmileyClare

There's a reason waste body matter from hospitals is incinerated and patients aren't encouraged to take it home in a bag and pop it in their garden. There would be a risk of contaminating water sources if everyone did this.

Hmm, I was just thinking about the requirements if you want to be buried on a private property.

Yuck. But not as bad as those who make placenta smoothies. Super yuck.

I did this, I had 2 home births. But tbh until this thread, I’d forgotten all about it. I can’t remember where the first one is, and the second, we dug up the plant when we had some garden work done.
It doesn’t really hold any symbolism to me, probably a case of what else would we have done with it.

Let's not make it normal because it isn't. Make a casserole out of it for all I care but don't try to persuade me to do the same.

Thanks for all the responses. It's an interesting read. I guess it is a bit of a hippyish concept, but not that much ?

@ZenNudist It's not for an article, so I must be a loon.

@SleepingStandingUp I didn't bother to defrost it before planting it (I also find them a bit quease-inducing). Hospitals used to freeze them and sell them on (to Oil of Olay apparently ), so might be worth asking if they'd keep it for a couple of days. I couldn't say for sure.

@SpamIAM Wales still run this scheme and two trees are planted for every child born and adopted in Wales . Due to changes in Data Protection Regulations, they've had to stop sending certificates.
sizeofwales.org.uk/about-us/plant-scheme/

@Scrowy I don't know Brian, though it looks like there's more than 2 of us.

@SmileyClare There are loads of activities that some families are excluded from participating in for all sorts of reasons. Is that a reason not to do something? I'd like to know more about the water table regs preventing this, could you share the link?

@iVampire @TheVanguardSix @Candiscophonous
Re scavengers, I thought that might be a problem too. We live out in the sticks and put the second one in a pot. Hole wasn't massively deep, and it was fine. Know around 10 families who've done it and haven't had a problem. Must admit, the thought of a fox digging it up is stomach turning, but then again, so is the incineration process.

I can't bury my favourite sheep in my garden under a tree when she pops her clogs so I'm afraid I'll be leaving human medical waste to the professionals to deal with for the same reasons Petal will be going off with the fallen stock chap.

Next time, OP, just eat the placenta like any normal person. I recommend battered, like a spam fritter.

@BerllanBrych they're 13 months, I think it's too late for me

@Scrowy

I miss olden days mumsnet. The responses now are so restrained.

Your husband isn't called Brian by any chance is he OP?

that made me laugh more than it should do. - that thread was just after I joined mn so have a certain soft spot for it

Op errr no. I think my ddog would love it though she wouldn't be able to stop sniffing the bottom of the tree. We once got some eco slug repellent made out of sheep poo and that was bad enough

1 - no
2 - no (see above)!
3 - yes. I think it's a lovely idea so long as people are aware of water table contamination issues and burying deep enough to avoid scavengers. You've given me food for thought (currently pregnant with my second child).

Not sure how you'd raise awareness of the idea... as a new mother the first time around I attended baby classes, hypnobirthing, signed up for development email bulletins... ideally you'd want to sow the seeds (pun slightly intended) before birth for planning reasons.

like a PP, I'm in NZ, it is very common here. You are asked when you give birth if you want to keep the placenta. They put it in a bag and in a special gift box for you. I kept all three of mine; all three are planted with native trees. The practice is to bury it with a tree or in a special place. That becomes the baby's turangawaewae or 'place to stand'. They will always be connected to that place.

I froze my placentas until I was ready to bury them. In each case we had a naming day/celebration when they were buried, about 3-6months after the baby was born.

I’ve got no ewww type objections but

1. Foxes

2. Lots of extra hassle for the midwives surely. They’ve got plenty to do without making sure your placenta gets bagged and labelled and refrigerated.

Ooh thanks OP! (Didn't clock your user name when I first replied!) I did email them but they never replied, but good to know he does indeed have trees

When I planted a passionfruit (abroad), gardening links said that planting an animal liver underneath would provide iron to the vine! I guess a placenta is similar, but no idea how long the nutrients provide much benefit for a tree? Also, more work for midwives and messy. Better than eating it though!

@Guineapigbridge

like a PP, I'm in NZ, it is very common here. You are asked when you give birth if you want to keep the placenta. They put it in a bag and in a special gift box for you. I kept all three of mine; all three are planted with native trees. The practice is to bury it with a tree or in a special place. That becomes the baby's turangawaewae or 'place to stand'. They will always be connected to that place.

I love the sentiment of a special 'place to stand'. I'm feeling rather inspired, now.

It's really no hassle for the midwives - they have to find a way to discard of it anyway. So they pop it in a bag and tie it up and chuck your hospital name sticker on it. Takes a couple of minutes. Bring a box (15cm square) for it if you want.

There's a big safety issue in encouraging people to carry home what is essentially a big pile of rotting medical waste, surely? Unless you are suggesting the NHS refrigerate them? Good luck finding the resources to organise and administer that!

big safety issue in encouraging people to carry home what is essentially a big pile of rotting medical waste, surely?

Your words are full of disgust. It's not "rotting", its just come out of you. They put it in a bag, you take it home, freeze it, do what you want with it. It's the same when you buy a steak at the supermarket.

@Eleoura

When I planted a passionfruit (abroad), gardening links said that planting an animal liver underneath would provide iron to the vine! I guess a placenta is similar, but no idea how long the nutrients provide much benefit for a tree? Also, more work for midwives and messy. Better than eating it though!

I can assure you that it is exactly the same amount of work.

Deliver placenta into (an unreasonably flimsy cardboard) dish, check placenta and membranes are complete, place into yellow waste bag. Hand waste bag to mother, or place in plastic tub to be incinerated.

Hmm I do have a rowan tree that needs planting, and a placenta that'll be ready in a couple of months, but also a dog that is insanely greedy...

There are loads of activities that some families are excluded from for various reasons. Is that a reason not to do something?

It's a reason not to campaign to make burying a placenta under a tree normal or mainstream that's my point. There's really no need to get this "message" out there. It's likely to come across as sanctimonious.

It's a nice sentimental ritual taken from other cultures. Most of the UK population don't live rurally, don't have enough private land, are far more likely to move or relocate
or more simply don't want to bury their birth products.

No there are no water table regulations on this because it's so niche. I'm not sure why you find the incineration process stomach turning?
There's a reason hospitals don't bury all their waste body products in the ground. There are reasons why we have regs about handling and storing raw meat in public areas like hospitals. Taking a flight, even driving a car to a garden centre to buy a sapling is far more polluting than incinerating a placenta.

Sorry but you've gone a bit preachy over this ritual which in fact has negligible "eco" benefits. I don't have an issue with you doing it if you want to.

@Guineapigbridge and @LostInTheColonies

Thanks for sharing . I have friends in New Zealand who are Niuean. They planted a tree with their kids' placentas. I wasn't sure whether it was a tradition specific to their island, or across all the Pacific Islands.

Would you say the range of responses on here (from to ), is similar to what there would be in New Zealand? Or is it so normal there that it would be considered in the same way as, say, breast feeding?

Maybe we need to figure out how to export your practices so that people don't have to worry about water tables and scavengers (though I assume you don't have foxes - amirite?).