After both of my children’s births, I have had my placenta encapsulated. As it’s becoming more of a ‘thing’, you may have already heard about it, but in case you haven’t: most mammals eat their placenta after birth. Ingesting your placenta is said to help with regulating postpartum emotions. If you’re on the fence, I thought I’d share my experiences with you.
– there’s definitely a placenta picture in this post, but it is just black & white –
When I first heard about encapsulation, like many people, I was pretty turned off. However, after a bit more research, I though it might be worth a try. I have a history of depression, and was depressed during my first pregnancy, so I was willing to try anything to avoid postpartum depression.
Even though I was at higher risk for postpartum mood disorders, I found that I avoided them entirely! Any time I started to get a bit more anxious than reasonable, I took my placenta pills, and felt fine. That first time, I had them done in the most basic way. Dehydrated, and put into capsules. Though they sound like they’d be hard pills to swallow, they were actually not a problem. My only complaint was –– and please stop reading now if you’re too easily grossed out — if I burped soon after I took them, it kind of tasted like blood. I know. Not ideal. Fine, truly; but could be improved upon.
Since my first birth, I discovered that people were now making flavored placenta pills, and I knew that was for me! My placenta encapsulation specialist had even more offerings than that though, and obviously, giddy at the thought of non-body-flavoured placenta, had to try most of them. I had two kinds of placenta pills: raw (just dehydrated), and traditional (steamed with lemon, ginger, frankincense, and myrrh before dehydration); placenta truffles, and two placenta chocolate bars!
Obviously, using chocolate as a vehicle was great. It was a little treat with a boost, and I enjoyed that very much. However, the flavored pills were fantastic! I take a lot of meds, and these are definitely the yummiest (weird?). I went with strawberry flavouring, and it was a great choice.
But, now for what you really want to know: did they work a second time? Yes.
After my second baby, to be honest, I didn’t take them as regularity as I should have past the first 2 weeks. I have not been completely free of postpartum ‘mental issues’ this time, but I have noticed a difference when I’ve taken my placenta as directed. In fact, I actually said to Todd, “I’m not sure how much they’re doing for me,” and he stopped and told me that he noticed a really big difference in me when I took them. In this case, I feel like he’s probably a better judge than me deciding if feeling normal is a positive effect from the placenta, or if I should be feeling better than normal. One of the pills caused a bit of an energy boost that was always welcome, though, and I did notice that little extra pep.
The price range for placenta encapsulation can vary a lot, depending on the method used, and how fancy you want to get. My first was the most basic, and the second was the works. Either way, I would recommend encapsulation, particularly for those first few weeks, and avoiding baby blues.
Do you have any other questions about encapsulation? I’d love to answer them for you. If you did have your placenta encapsulated, what did you think?
