Aibu to keep my placenta and... cook it in a pie?

[Umberta]

(Semi light hearted thread but I'm actually serious).
So everyone IRL that I bring this up with tells me I'm crazy and/or get very grossed out. But they can't say why this is wrong. And mumsnet has never failed to be a safe space for me before

Ps I'm a FTM and so only have quite a vague idea of how big it is.

You haven't smelt a placenta have you.

Trust me, you want that nowhere near your dinner plate!

@Timeforabiscuit haha no I haven't! That gross are they?

I keep telling my dh he needs to BBQ mine - I'm really curious about it! Although I'm normally vegetarian so I'm not sure I'll be able to bring myself to actually eat any 😂

I might get mine encapsulated instead

My friend buried hers and planted a tree on top of it. Grew very well!

It’s as big as a large mixing bowl, which is what the mw used to show me mine, and it’s floppy. It’s not meat pie territory... there’s no way of this not sounding massively patronising, but this seems important now-being pregnant with your first, its all about the pregnancy process and what’s involved in the miracle that’s happening; as soon as your child is born, THAT’s the miracle bit and nothing else matters. Plus you’ll be too knackered and overwhelmed by the new upside down world of being a mother that you won’t be making pies for some considerable time!

I would rather donate it to science. Mine was used in preclampsia research.

It's as big as a serving bowl OP - ten inches wide-ish as I remember?
Buried my second one in the garden. But eating is quite acceptable as this article shows. Here - quotes from the article - Humans are in the minority over placentophagy, or eating the placenta.

With the exception of marine mammals and some domesticated ones, all other mammals consume the afterbirth - possibly to help with the bonding process.

Dried placenta is used in some traditional Chinese medicine and is thought to be a restorative, but the practice of placentophagy is a more recent trend in western culture and is not without controversy

In 1998, Channel 4 was reprimanded for showing a woman's afterbirth being served up as pate by TV chef Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall.

Ways of eating raw placenta
A raw placenta smoothie made with red berries.
Dried into capsules and taken as directed, usually a few times a day.
Made into a tincture, with drops placed in a glass of water as required.
Cooked and used as a beef substitute, i.e. in stir frys, burgers, stroganoff and bolognaise.
The placenta was fried with shallots and garlic, flambeed, pureed and served to a new mother's 20 relatives and friends as a pate on focaccia bread.
www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-27307476

A placenta is very large, and has other womb lining attached when it comes out. The midwife will be checking to make sure it's intact, so it will be handled quite alot.

Practically, it's warm when it comes out, so you'll need to cool, pack and store it appropriately. Then transport it home, clean and butcher it.

It's your placenta, but unless you are a fan of strong offal type flavours (liver,kidney) - it sounds more trial than pleasure.

Revolting🤮

I mean it’s not wrong, there isn’t a reason why you can’t do it. I personally don’t eat my own organs and generally have enough to do already with a newborn, so it’s not for me.

We’ve got a beautiful fruit tree planted on top of DS’. Might do the same with DD’s, I’m undecided.

Whilst I can see the rationale for eating it, I’m not sure the evidence is especially robust for it being particularly beneficial. Particularly in modern society where I could just pick up some iron tablets or have a steak without a second thought!

Plus, the smell. I’ve delivered hundreds of babies and the smell of slightly warm placenta still turns my tummy a bit.

Ha ha brilliant, crack on OP. As soon as you see how gross it is I'm sure you will be changing your mind 😂

No. Just no.

I think it's one of those things that's a great idea for animals and those in impoverished societies- a safe, rich source of meat and decent nutrition- but that we are lucky not to have to do it in the time and society we live in. If you still want to though, you go for it.

Do it OP! When are you due? Please please come back to this thread and let us know!

You can hire people to make it into capsules if you want the nutritional benefit. You could do it yourself but the process stinks to high heaven and usually done in a shed at the bottom of the garden.

www.placentapractice.co.uk/services/?gclid=Cj0KCQjwpZT5BRCdARIsAGEX0zl1Wro-kmsVSGtZEzQTlvaOvL5VJmn9yDpRqaWkavQVBmVWC2y_drUaAr3sEALw_wcB

Well I mean, you could if you wanted to.

Personally I couldn’t believe the sheer size and texture, it looked like the most biggest piece of liver and it didn’t smell good either!!

Why would you eat part of your baby? If you had a kidney removed would you eat that?

I have no concept of why you’d want to eat something that comes out of your body.
I’m prepared to be corrected but my understanding is that animals only eat it to destroy evidence that they have young which would then signal to predators that there is vulnerable prey. Also my cat cleans itself with its tongue and I’m not exactly doing to do that so I don’t follow the argument that animals do it so we should.

Thank you everyone for your comments especially the practical ones!!
So firstly @GrumpyHoonMain this was my first choice, and I've already given extra blood samples etc for research, but I've now been told they aren't accepting umbilical cord blood or placenta donations atm due to covid. It might change by the time I give birth but I'm due in about two weeks.
@Amber0685 and @RowboatsinDisguise planting it under a new tree sounds really lovely! But...a bit too much like hard work for me lol.
For some responders who are sounding a bit judgy... "personally I don't eat my own organs", "no just no", "revolting"... I'm not offended but have you never questioned why? Having a strong opinion without a rationale, especially one that is judgemental of others, is sort of the definition of bigoted, although I'm sure you aren't. Please come back and tell me your reasons
@giletrouge @Timeforabiscuit and others, thank you for your practical advice! Yes I'm very open to the idea that I won't be able to keep it fresh etc, or that I'll be put off by the smell. I'm having a home birth so it won't have to go in the car etc. I'll just see how I feel probably and the midwives can either take it away to be incinerated or we'll put it in a Tupperware.
@MrsWooster don't worry I'm not patronised, but you've seen other PPs found time to even plant a tree with it! I can whip up a pie in a very short time esp if the veg is prepared beforehand

Why would you eat part of your baby?

It's not part of the baby.

If you can summon up the energy to be bothered to bake in the days following giving birth then I really, really think it should be to make something really tasty - please don't waste it on making placenta pie!

I'm a vegetarian and never ate offal before I gave up meat so maybe I'm particularly squeamish (and also my placenta got stuck and had to be manually removed so it was a bit mangled and also I was off my head on gas and air when the doctor finally pulled it out) but I have seen few things less appetising than my placenta.

@titchy

Why would you eat part of your baby? If you had a kidney removed would you eat that?

It's a waste product that sustained and nurtured a pregnancy, It's not like cutting off an arm.

@randomtree don't worry, if I do it, I will report back! Better put my bullet proof vest on though eh because I'll get more of those vomit emojis!