Chocolate Truffles, Fruit Smoothies, and Placenta Encapsulation
/by Cynthya Dzialo, Birth Doula and Childbirth Educator
It's purported that ingesting placenta via encapsulation or chocolate truffle, fruit smoothie, or alcohol-extracted tincture, may naturally promote milk production, prevent postpartum depression, and speed healing. There's no current evidence that ingesting the placenta will provide any health benefit. If you are unsure if this long-time practice is right for you, keep your placenta on ice at the hospital and deep freeze it as soon as possible. You can encapsulate your placenta up to one year after its birth.
The CDC advises against ingesting placenta in any form. Placentophagy can be harmful to you and your baby. Here's a link to more info on their site. Right now, we don’t know if placentophagy has any effect on postpartum depression, and if any effect that it may have, maybe due to the placebo effect. More info is posted here in the National Library of Medicine.
Natural Afterbirth provides a clinical approach to placenta encapsulation services that protect the integrity of the placenta throughout the process. With trained specialists and a dedicated workspace designed solely for placenta encapsulation, their services are efficient and can process a placenta in less than 20 hours. Their specially designed workspace allows for better sanitation than an at-home kitchen, it also protects the placenta and those in the mother's family from unintended exposure to contaminates in a busy home.
Natural Afterbirth uses temperature-controlled equipment to ensure the placenta is not degraded by exposure to high temperatures or variations in temperatures. Their encapsulation process ensures that each capsule has a consistent amount of finely ground placenta to allow for proper dosing. It’s important to note each pill should contain pure placenta with no herbal additives that may cause unexpected side effects rendering the pills unusable. Natural Afterbirth is the go-to provider for area birth professionals, as well as, several national professional groups.
For more information and to make your purchase, please visit Natural Afterbirth, a partner provider of The Happiest Doulas. We have chosen to partner with Natural Afterbirth due to their efficiency and professionalism. For your safety, we strongly advise you to research your placenta processing options and choose a well-known and respected company such as Natural Afterbirth and we'd appreciate your telling them that we referred you.
