Your Amazing Placenta
Like so many other things that are directly or indirectly related to the womb, the placenta has been ignored by the majority of establishments who tend to women and birthing persons healthcare for at least a generation. But it wasn’t always this way. The placenta has been revered as a sacred connection between mother, birther and babe for thousands of years. Throughout history, placentas have been given back to the earth, planted under a tree or plant. Some families have pan-cooked the placenta and eaten it; others have shared their placenta with midwives and birth workers – all consuming bits of the tree of life that sustained life for nine long months. Today, you’ll commonly see this fascinating organ turned into tinctures or teas. Others encapsulate it for recovery. Make placenta prints and cord bows. And, of course, some families dispose of it as medical waste.
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Over the last decade in business, our Cherry Blossom birth doulas have seen a wide variety of choices made around the placenta. And, our birth doulas are often found en route to a placenta pickup or a placenta tincture or capsule delivery. Placentophagy, or placenta consumption, by mothers and birthers has once again become a more natural route reintroduce the beneficial vitamins, minerals, hormones, proteins, and other nutrients into a birthing body to help restore balance to body and mind.
Did you know that according to UNLV researchers, when they analyzed the concentrations of different substances in placenta capsules, they not only found small amounts of minerals like iron and zinc. They also analyzed 17 different hormones in the placenta capsules!⠀
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To us, this seems like 17 reasons to consider postpartum placental consumption.
What do you think? Have you been researching plancenta encapsulation? What questions do you have? We are here with you. Bringing you not just the support you want, but the support you need. Always.
Hi! I’m Alyssa Leon. I lead Cherry Blossom Doula Services, LLC – an inclusive birth + postpartum doula team in Arizona; and mentor doulas in Arizona and beyond.