Fight the baby blues without eating your own placenta

Warning: What you are about to read may gross you out. No, let me rephrase that: It will gross you out.

I nearly lost my lunch the other day when I read a first-person Time magazine article about a new mother’s pursuit to eat her own placenta to ward off the possibility of post-partum depression. Yes: Eat. Her. Own. Placenta. (Those with strong stomachs can read the article here. Those with REALLY strong stomachs can watch the video of the “placenta cooking lady” here.)

So it got me thinking, as I head into the final stretch of my second pregnancy: Would I eat my own placenta?

This week during a routine check-up, I decided to ask my doctor about the practice, officially referred to as placentophagy. I worked up my nerve at the very end of my appointment. My doctor was about to stand up when she heard my question, then sat back down:

“Have you ever had a patient who wanted to eat her own placenta?” I asked, explaining the purported benefits of staving off post-partum depression and assisting with breast-milk production.

“Never, in my 20 years of practice, has a mother asked me about eating her own placenta,” my doctor said with a surprising sense of shock that there was even a term for washing, steaming and eating your own placenta. “Dogs eat their own placentas.”

Enough said.

It's important to note that there have been no scientific studies on afterbirth consumption to support the alleged benefits. It’s also unclear how many women actually partake in this seemingly self-cannibalistic practice. It has been documented, though, that cultures around the world revere the organ, which develops within the uterus during pregnancy and nourishes the growing fetus via the umbilical cord.

Post-partum depression is a serious condition that deserves a doctor’s attention. So I can understand the desire to avoid it. But even new moms who aren’t clinically diagnosed can still struggle soon after childbirth. So here are a few tips that worked for me, the first time around, and that I hope to apply this fall when Baby No. 2 arrives…

How to fight the baby blues without having to eat your own placenta:

1) Join a local mommy group. It’s not in my nature to want to bond with complete strangers. But I found soon after the birth of my son almost five years ago that I needed to talk to other women who were going through what I was experiencing: Sleepless nights, questioning my parenting skills, wondering if my baby’s development was on track. I didn’t necessarily make lifelong friends, but it did give me a good reason to get out of the house once my son was past that “quarantine” phase when new moms fear any contact with the outside world might make their newborns sick.

2) Understand that new moms are not perfect. I learned this lesson the hard way, during my agonizing battle with breastfeeding. Let’s just say that giving birth (without an epidural) was a piece of cake compared to nursing. The societal pressure was unreal: I tried special pills; I pumped; I went to a breastfeeding class twice a week. All the while, I felt like a failure. It didn’t help when I got an unexpected visit from a neighbor who said she was an active member of La Leche League. I started to think breastfeeding was a cult. I finally turned the corner after enduring my lowest moment: I broke down crying after accidentally spilling a bottle of breast milk in the kitchen. My husband thought I was having a nervous breakdown. This time around, I have promised not to beat myself up if things don’t go as planned.

3) Lean on your partner and family. You’ll have plenty of time to perfect your “Super Mom” routine once you return to work. For those early weeks after birth, be sure to accept and ask for help from those around you. You’ll need the help in order to accomplish the most simplest of things, like taking a 20-minute shower.

POSTED IN: Anne Vasquez (43)

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Comments

You freakin moron. That is a disgusting, dispicable headline. It's bad enough what the story was about but you have to attempt to put humor into a disgraceful story? Go bad to whatever hole you crawled out of you low life. How DO you get a job with a major newspaper??

Posted by: Andy | July 29, 2009 8:12 AM

I don't see where this article merits a top spot on your web site. This is something I would expect from a gossip tabloid. Is this some lame attempt to add a bit of shock value?

Posted by: Kit | July 29, 2009 8:40 AM

Oh, come on, lots of people dry their placenta and take it in pill form. It has been proven to help stave off PPD because it keeps your hormone levels stabilized. Another thing that helps? Breastfeeding.

Posted by: Elita | July 29, 2009 11:44 AM

It takes a lot to gross me out... I am cringing at the image!

I would suggest joining an online community to connect with moms in a like situation... placenta aside.

Posted by: Bradi Nathan | July 29, 2009 3:10 PM

I just had a baby 5 weeks ago and had my placenta dehydrated and I took the pills for 10 days. It helped immensely! I took the first pills exactly 1 week after birthing my baby. I had been very weepy for two days prior to starting the pills and saw the positive effects by the second day of taking them. So... before passing judgment on something you obviously haven't tried - think about those who might benefit from something you find "disgusting". For more information please click on the link below.

http://placentabenefits.info/

Posted by: Lisa | July 29, 2009 8:40 PM

Hey guys, stop complaining about the articles and headlines. You're the ones who clicked on the link to the story, so it obviously worked!

Posted by: Ruth | July 30, 2009 4:00 PM

The first comment was spot on. What a disgusting headline! Keep your gross thoughts to yourself! The Sun-Sentinel has stooped to a new low with you!

Posted by: Touche | July 30, 2009 5:41 PM

To those of you who are complaining, why did you read the article? She states in the first paragraph that you may get grossed out. I enjoyed the article, it's fresh.

Posted by: wpbdenise | July 31, 2009 9:10 AM

Dehydrating placentas is quite common, and many people believe they have benefitted from it. And just because the benefits haven't been researched, only means that pharmaceutical companies don't stand to profit from this, so why would they fund the research?

People, don't be so quick to criticize a natural and free solution. PPD can be very serious, and the answers don't always include expensive medications with tons of chemicals and even more side-effects, and prevent you from breast-feeding as well.

Posted by: Nfb | July 31, 2009 5:59 PM

Thirty years ago, before the home birth of my second son, I read about making placenta stew in one of my birthing books. Although that was something I did not want to do personally, I believe it has validity. We ended up planting the placenta under a tree in the yard. I'm sure it made good fertilizer.

Furthermore, I'll bet that most of the grossed out readers eat meat. Think about it. That is species-ism. Why do we eat the dead corpses of animals on a daily basis and love the animals we call pets and eat (and love) the dead animals we call food? Just food for thought--pun fully intended.

Posted by: Jill | August 1, 2009 11:43 AM

I clicked on the article, a read it and I was educated and entertained on my break at work. Interesting topics, though apparently controversial...take heart that alot of people can see it for what it is, a commentary about a common problem, PPD, and a not-so-common treatment. I liked the reasonable suggestions at the end. It was a good grounding take away.

Posted by: Jaime Plecenik | August 2, 2009 9:29 AM