As a homebirth midwife there is always that week in antenatal care where my clients and I discuss what will be done with the placenta. Some choose to freeze it to decide later, some wish to just dispose of it, others feel a connection to their placenta and wish to celebrate and commemorate it and some, like every other mammal on earth, choose to consume it. So when I ask the question, ‘so what do you think you’ll do with your placenta’, they almost always say, ‘well what are my options’. This article aims to give you a few ideas if you wish to immortalise, commemorate, celebrate, honour or harness the power of your placenta.

Placenta Prints

The placenta has an amazing network of blood vessels which can make for an amazing placenta print. A print is made by using the placenta, along with its bloody coating, as a stamp to outline and detail the placenta on paper. Here’s one I did for a client recently – the amazing tree of life!

Homeopathic Placenta Remedy

I’ve never done this personally but a dear midwife friend of mine does it regularly and swears by its benefits. You can also find details about this www.placentalremedy.com

Placenta Encapsulation

This is where the placenta is steamed, dehydrated, ground to a powder and put in capsules to make consuming it more palatable for mothers who choose to do this. Googling the benefits of consuming your placenta in this way will reveal some anecdotal evidence about its benefits. See the picture diary below of how a placenta is encapsulated.

Rinse the Placenta under running water to remove as much blood as possible.	Cut off membranes and cord.	Cut placenta into quarters.
Steam placenta for approximately 20 mins or until cooked through.	Slice placenta thinly.	Place thin slices onto trays of a food dehydrator.

Dehydrate placenta slices for 6-8 hours ensuring that before you grind the slices they are sufficiently dry. You can know this because when you break the pieces they will be crisp and snap. If the slices bend they are not dry enough and need to be dehydrated further.

	Grind placenta pieces in a food processor, coffee grinder or with a mortar and pestle until a powder		Fill capsules as per instructions on ‘cap-m-quik’ capsule filling equipment

Burying your placenta

Some women like to bury their placenta In the garden, it can be a ceremonious occasion and from reports, the placenta is quiet good for your plants. Some women choose a new plant to plant on top of it. Word is that it should be buried at least a foot down in the soil… this should also stop it from being dug up by pets in the yard.

I’m sure there are more things that could be done with your placenta- but these are the main things

I’ve seen done with the amazing life giving organ- the placenta… If you’ve got something else that you have done with your placenta we’d love to hear about it!

Article published 3rd December 2011