“Why I ate my placenta.”

I know what you are thinking, but it’s amazing.

You probably just spat your coffee out. Sounds disgusting right? Eating your placenta.

Well, I did it and it was awesome.

Let me clarify, I didn’t chop it up and cook it up in my stir-fry. I didn’t throw chunks of frozen raw placenta in my morning smoothie. That really does sound gross.

I had my placenta encapsulated by a local doula, a service which is becoming more and more popular among new mums. And no, consuming your placenta is not a trendy new phenomenon. It’s been practiced by many cultures for thousands of years.

Why? Because the benefits are endless. Consuming your placenta is promoted as increasing your iron levels, reducing instances of post natal depression, stimulating your milk supply and putting much needed nutrients back into your body after giving birth.

When I did my research on having your placenta encapsulated, I couldn’t find a single person who said they didn’t benefit from it. So, I decided to do it.

At 30 weeks, all I had to do was pay a small deposit for the encapsulation. They let me know to send them a text when I went into labour and when the placenta was out and ready. As I was induced, I was able to give them a little more notice and then contacted them the morning after my daughter was born to come and collect my placenta. It was sitting in an ice cream container in the little fridge in my room, much to many people’s disgust – mostly my mum’s.

A gentleman came and collected my little pot of gold and returned a day later with a jar full of capsules and a beautiful memento of the umbilical cord. Cue my mum’s repulsion again.

They were beautifully packaged in a purple jar that subtly sits in my fridge. And the capsules are purple and smell like grape hubba bubba. It was honestly just like taking a vitamin. I didn’t cringe even once.

I found my breastmilk supply went through the roof. I had so much milk that I had two midwives hand expressing some off because my nipples were like swollen bath plugs that my daughter couldn’t latch on to. Too much is far better than too little.

My post partum bleeding ceased entirely by the two week mark. I was able to switch from maternity pads to maxis by about day 3.

While I had my bad days, my energy levels were as high as I could imagine with the limited sleep I was getting.

I know it’s not for everyone, and I’m sure there are still people reading this that think it’s disgusting and that’s okay.

But, if you’re entertaining the idea, I highly recommend you look into and find a local doula who offers the service and chat to them about what’s involved and how they work.

Just remember, it’s the most natural thing in the world to do. It just has an unfortunate stigma attached to it.

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