What is Placenta Encapsulation?

• The practice of drying a woman’s placenta for her to take as a supplement during her postnatal period

Why would I want to do this?

• The placenta is the repository of much of the iron your body loses during pregnancy in addition to being a storehouse of hormones.  When it leaves the body during birth you experience a sudden drop in hormone supply.
  

  Placenta Capsules

• The “baby blues” or in more extreme cases, post partum depression have been attributed to several things, one being the level of fatigue experienced the first few months after birth.  Iron deficiency and a rapid drop in hormone production can contribute to the symptoms of PPD (mood swings, anxiety, sadness, irritability, crying, decreased concentration, trouble sleeping).  Placenta encapsulation may provide a natural supplement to address these issues.

• Lastly, almost every single mammal in the world (confirmed herbivores included) eats their placenta immediately after giving birth.  In nature there is very rarely instance of the issues that often plague human mothers.

What are the benefits of Placenta Encapsulation?

Placenta is a part of many Traditional Chinese Medicine Preparations for the following issues:

• Hormone Balance

• Enhancing Milk Supply

• Increasing Energy

It may also help with:

• Bringing your body back into balance

• Avoiding the “baby blues”

• Increasing energy

• Augmenting milk production

• Lessening postnatal bleeding

• Increasing postnatal iron levels

• Recovering more quickly from birth

How is it prepared?

• I will come to the hospital and pick up the placenta after you deliver.  Please notify me when you go into labor so I can be on call for the pick up.

• I will then prep, steam (with traditional warming herbs) and dehydrate your placenta.   They will use all of their own equipment, sterilizing as they go.  This process takes on average 2-2 ½ hours of prep time and the dehydrator will run overnight.

• The following day, I will grind up the placenta into a fine powder and put it in capsules.  There is dosage and care information on the container and I am available for any questions you may have.

How did you get into doing this?

• I had a massage client who had had a terrible time after her first baby was born, she was depressed and moody.  She wasn’t producing enough milk despite the multiple trips to lactation professionals and prescriptions from her doctor and acupuncturist.  She had such a rough time recovering that she waited several years to get pregnant with her second child.  While she was preparing for her second delivery she spoke with several good friends, who were also mothers and they recommended she look into Placenta Encapsulation.  She was desperate enough to try anything, no matter how crazy to avoid what she went through with her first child.  The difference was like night and day.  Once she started taking the capsules, she had more milk than her baby could possibly consume.  Her fatigue levels decreased exponentially.  She felt, most importantly, that she could really enjoy her new baby.  We got to talking during her massage session and she convinced me to look into it.  I have been consistently impressed with the difference my clients experience when they take the capsules.

Links:

Placenta Benefits

Moon Cycle Arts offers Placenta Encapsulation both in conjunction with doula services or singly.

There is a $50 discount for doula clients.