Placentophagia - the eating the placenta - is a traditional thing: in
some cultures it is eaten raw by the mother, is some it is cooked and
eaten by the mother and in others it is cooked and shared out by the
father and the men of the village.
Some cultures have stopped eating it, but bury it with sacred plants
etc, and take gifts and prayer to it - to thank it for the baby's life -
for some days after the birth.
Many of the higher order mammals, also eat their placentas after giving
birth, and it's thought the high nutrient load is a vital way to replace
nutrition in the mother - particularly the rich source of bio-available
iron it releases.
This is why crunchy birthers will do so - as they are following the more
ancient wisdoms around birthing cultures - and trying to replace lost
female based wisdom on birthing, so relentlessly lost with the
relentless patriarchal establishment of the expert (male) doctor.
It's such a common thing to me, I'm truly surprised of someone who's
involved in birthing, not to have heard of it. My, how we all live in
our own little worlds, and sometimes think we know so much about what
everyone else is experiencing! :-)
I'm tempted to say, given that it's so common, or had been so common,
then it can't be harmful to milk . However, the human species does
quite a lot of things that are very harmful to humans, and often say
it's 'good' for them.
So, I'd suggest that the evidence that it isn't harmful, is probably
best illustrated by the high incidence of it in other mammals. It does
appear to be hard wired, and hard wired survival behaviour is usually
just that - survival behaviour. But I await, with bated breath, more
learned scientific rationales on this. I'll be taking notes! :-)
Morgan Gallagher
Online Lactaneer
Who performed a tri-way blessing - me, my baby and the placenta -
thanking the placenta for my baby's life, in the labour ward, whilst it
was still steaming hot. I didn't bring it home, as I had no practical
way of dealing with it as I was bed ridden for the last three months of
pregnancy from SPD. It didn't occur to me to stick it in the freezer.
I have a friend who has her 7 months old daughter's in the freezer,
awaiting inspiration.
http://www.womensenews.org/article.cfm/dyn/aid/2841/context/archive
http://www.mothering.com/discussions/showthread.php?t=64680
http://www.indo.com/featured_article/rigorous.html
http://www.naturalparenting.com.au/index.php?id=145
http://au.geocities.com/priestess_of_the_mother/childbirth/placenta.html
Lisa Marasco IBCLC wrote:
> I was asked an interesting question after speaking on hormonal issues and
> milk production a couple of weeks ago. A mother wondered if eating placenta
> would affect milk production negatively.
>
>
>
> Well, I was not aware of this trend. Apparently some mothers, especially
> home birthers, will cook their placentas or "capsulize" them if they can't
> stomach it and then ingest them for all the good nutrients, most especially
> to rebuild iron stores. This particular mother did it for the iron, but also
> felt that her supply went down during the time of ingestion. The question
> was raised in her mind when learning about the placenta's role in issuing
> progesterone and the discussion of the effects of retained placenta.
>
>
>
> I simply don't know enough to answer this question. How much hormone would
> be destroyed by cooking or the gut?
>
>
>
> Anyone out there on lactnet have more experience with this?
>
>
>
> Thanks,
>
> Lisa Marasco
>
>
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