I am interested in making a placenta smoothie has anyone else done this??

[Smileysar1]

I've done lots of research and really keen to make a placenta smoothie after the birth. I've found lots of recipes. But nowhere does it say how to store the placenta or how many days to drink it for. I know that research is minimal but just wondered if you or anyone you know have made placenta smoothies and what you did?! Any help would be greatly appreciated :)

There was a woman on the TV recently having home birth and she did it.

All I can remember about it was from way back in the late 70's and early 80's when it was said to contain large amounts of B vitamins that helped prevent PND. People weren't much into smoothies then so the advice was to fry it and eat it like liver.

Sorry, and wasn't there something in the paper just the other day about a company who sold placenta food products or supplements being closed down?

What's the evidence to assure us it's not harmful? I hadn't heard of any. It's just that it's a piece of meat that's been in contact with your nether regions in a hot delivery room, realistically it's going to be exposed to traces of yours and maybe baby's faeces, blood, lochia etc. And you're thinking about not cooking it, which is potentially another risk because you've no guarantee at all that the encapsulation process will be sanitary. I mean, do what you want, as I said upthread I've had worse from kebab vans, so far be it from me to judge. I just don't see how anyone could assure you it would be harmless?

I wouldn't eat any meat that had sat under artificial lights in a hot delivery room, and that had come into (very close) contact with my nether regions. Breeding ground for harmful bacteria.

I wouldn't put that on my food blog and refuse to think of (im)possible wine pairings!

It is totally disgusting and I don't know why we are discussing it further. If people are daft enough to do it, let them. I have bipolar and there's no way I'd eat my own placenta to ward off PND ! There are other natural ways to help yourself if you don't like drugs or therapy. Again, it's nothing like breast feeding ! This is completely silly.

Blue if you don't want to discuss it then hide the thread.

Two links to the article I mentioned and if the Daily Mail offends there's no need to click on the link.

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3065712/Firm-selling-smoothies-raw-human-placenta-closed-health-risks.html

www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/mum-who-sells-smoothies-made-5356840

I'm not comparing it to breastfeeding!! I'm saying some people find breastfeeding disgusting and is a topic of debate too!!! Of course this is going to generate more of a debate due to the minimal research. I'm taking a lot of what everyone has said on board, apologies if ive caused offence, entirely unintentional.

Thanks wee birdie great links

Thanks springtime I'm glad you got that I didn't want to stir any more emotions from others!! Good to hear your experience too!!

The OP wasn't comparing breast feeding to eating placenta.

I'm not offended I think it's a very silly example. Of the so called 'disgusted' reactions I'd take a guess that only a minority think breastfeeding is actually disgusting, and even those couldn't deny the proven benefits of breastfeeding based on studies and scientific research.

Humans eating their own placenta, on the other hand ... I'm sure that many find it disgusting, but others (I include myself here) think it is just pseudo scientific nonsense with few proven benefits. And the 'well most other mammals do it' is just ridiculous.

I would think that other mammals (as in animals) do it, because it may well have some nutritious value and they are too tired/weak to go hunting or searching for food straight after giving birth. They obviously can't ask for their "husband" to go grocery shopping and they don't get food supplies as we humans do in hospitals after birth. Therefore it seems like a natural thing to do and animals normally know what things contain necessary nutrients. This is all based on my logic, no research whatsoever.

Also, I'd totally understand if humans living in tribes/aborigines who live mostly from what mother nature provides them with do it.

However, we humans in "civilised" world have access to normal food after birth and can get all necessary nutrients from it, so therefore I am wondering why eating placenta is an option in the first place.

If it killed you people probably wouldn't still be doing it.

Bollocks springtimemama. There are loads of things different groups of humans have done and continue to do that could kill them. For example mortuary cannibalism leading to kuru, as mentioned upthread. Or the cultural traditions around dealing with the corpse of a loved one that some Sierra Leoneans continued to engage in even when that person had died of ebola. Or FGM. As such, the fact that a small percentage of humans do it, which we know, is not evidence that it's safe. Seriously, a lot more women have had their genitals mutilated than have eaten their placenta. Would you therefore assume clitoridectomy couldn't have any ill effects?

Also, so we're clear, it's not that Mexican Americans as a group do it. It's just that there are recorded incidences of it happening amongst people in that region who are into what you might call alternative practices.

I think the one thing this thread has thrown up for me is just how much my life and range of experience has changed since having children. I move in quite hippy circles now and consuming the placenta after birthing it is quite normal among my new parenting friends. I know people who have had in in smoothies (small pieces blended with fruits and almond milk) and people who have had it encapsulated or done it themselves. Seems as natural a part of childbirth as standing up, delayed cord clamping, homebirth, waterbirth, any of the other things we do to try to help ourselves. I only know one person who shared their placenta with others, and what I found interesting about that was that they made it into pate, because as vegans they wouldn't eat pate in any other form.

I'm pregnant with my second and having suffered with pernicious anaemia after the birth of my first baby will be looking into whether and how I might ingest some placenta. And while I'm not sure that I would like to have my placenta blended with garlic and black pepper it's not something I think is disgusting either. And doing something once every two years, or however often the average gap between babies is, is not the same as culturally normal funerary cannibalism, which is what led to Kuru.

Of course it's not the same as cannibalism. It isn't ethically problematic for a start! It's just that the existence of routine cannibalism in some groups in PNG is a neat example of why the argument that people wouldn't keep doing something if it killed you is stupid.

But hell, people can do what they want. All I'd say is that if I were going to consume any meat that had been in contact with my birthing nethers, I think I'd want to do it very soon afterwards and cook it extremely thoroughly. I would also probably set the bar for reasons in favour higher than 'probably won't kill me'.

Fine with her eating it? He/she only said it wasn't harmful

He said although there is not enough evidence to support eating our placentas as re nourishment post partum, there is plenty to assure us that it is not harmful.

Compelling and convincing argument for eating placenta from the obs!

A reason it's thought animals do it is because of predators. If there's evidence of the birth lying around predators will smell it and it'll attract them to where the vulnerable mother and newborns are.

Slightly off topic but those who don't want to eat placentas you can donate to research and hopefully save a life in the future. I'm hoping to donate mine and cord.