It’s been close to 5 whole months since I gave birth to my beautiful baby girl, Nala. Now that she’s growing, things are starting to get a bit better as far as breastfeeding and routine goes. During this pregnancy, I was able to revisit the idea of placenta encapsulation – something I knew I wanted to learn more about and make happen if I was ever blessed with new motherhood again, and I was.
To some, consuming your own placenta is questionable and not fully understood. To me, it’s sacred in a sense. For starters, my interest sparked when I unknowingly signed away my rights to my son’s placenta before he was born. Like, does any woman ever question what they REALLY do with your placenta in those hospitals? I did. After such a bad birthing experience along with crappy nurses, I knew the second time around that I didn’t want people like that caring for me or something as precious as my baby or the placenta. So… in good ol’ non-mainstream fashion, I chose to keep my placenta.
Read: My Home Labor + Natural Birth Story
Why eat it?
Well, unlike some crunchy mamas who actually worked the nerve to grind or fry up and eat their placentas like a lasagna meal, I knew off the bat that I wanted to encapsulate. If you know anything about mammals, they’re notorious for consuming their placentas after birth – only humans aren’t, which I found interesting. Plus, the thought of having strangers “discard” a part of me and my baby without actually talking with us about it, made me nervous.
The process of encapsulating was actually pretty simple. Of course, I did tons of research, made note of both views of placenta consumption – good and bad, and ultimately came to the conclusion that more women should probably look into this if they’re pregnant and/or plan to be.
If you’re the type to need a scientific study or proof of effects, you won’t find much. Most people that have consumed their placenta tend to embrace natural processes over always needing a periodic table of formulas, ya know. To each her own.
Why do it on my own?
Yes, they have people who actually run businesses that handle placenta services like encapsulation but again, total stranger to me. I wanted this experience to be one I learned from so when doing my research I noticed that paying a “professional” to encapsulate for you would cost anywhere from $250-$500. Of course, adding tincture and such could add to the price.
I was able to do it on my own for less than $130. Not bad, right? I didn’t know of many black moms who consumed their placenta until I discovered that one of my favorite YouTubers, Ambrosia, decided to share her experience doing so with her first born. It inspired me to definitely give it a go.
The whole experience from beginning to end felt like my own personal ritual. I cared for the placenta so gently, treating it as if it were an actual life-form, when in a sense it still was to me. From drying out the placenta to encapsulating, it took me 2 days (only because I work from home and was still figuring out a better schedule at the time) but I’m sure it could have all been done within a day.
Does it help?
I can only speak for myself so yes. After birth, I had a case of the baby blues. I would get easily frustrated, go from happy to sad, and even felt defeated most days. I began taking the placenta pills daily – two a day – and the 73 capsules I made lasted less than 3 months. I didn’t really notice a change in myself until maybe 3 days after. I’d feel optimistic about the day ahead and slowly started to feel like myself again. It’s helped me and I’ve noticed the change.
I’ll share a video of the process and end result of my placenta encapsulation on my YouTube channel soon! Go subscribe to stay in the loop!
If you’ve been curious or have thought about keeping your placenta – to bury or consume, share your thoughts in the comments below.
