Last evening I went to my last bi-monthly prenatal appointment and I picked up a flyer for placenta encapsulation services. The service is provided by Jessica Cicerone, CPES (Certified Placenta Encapsulation Specialist). The flyer explains the benefits of such service, which I will share below, and advertises Jessica's company Three Moon Living. Three Moon Living will be a "resource for holistic care, spiritual nourishment, and good living".
My placenta from Lil D's birth is in my freezer and I decided to use it to plant a tree, when we purchase our new home. BC2's placenta will be encapsulated (a process I plan to document on this blog). So I will be engaging in placentophagy. For most mammals this is a way of life, well except humans of course, we have "evolved". In a study conducted by UNLV researchers on the experiences of placenta eating moms their was a distinct type of woman who practiced placentophagy. They were "overwhelmingly white, married, college-educated and were solidly middle- to upper-middle class. Most of the women had home births" (Source).
The researchers for this study hope to "resolve this debate by conducting the world's first definitive study on the effectiveness of placenta pills — a sort of placebo versus placenta study. To that end, Benyshek and Young are analyzing the nutrient and hormone content of the human placenta and testing the best ways to prepare it for human consumption. Eventually, they hope to discover what, if anything, makes the placenta so potent a remedy for the baby blues, and whether there are any risks involved."
I'll be on the look out for these results. Some benefits of placentophagy are:
- Restore your body back to balance
- Avoid the "baby blues"
- Enhance milk production
- Increase energy
- Lessen potential bleeding
- Increase iron levels
- Recover more quickly from birth
For more resources on the benefits of the placenta visit www.placentabenefits.info
I'll let you know in about 3 weeks!
