Ob/Gyn's - have you ever heard of this?

[Apollyon]

I couldn't put it in the title, so the goofballs didn't intrude.

I was reading something this evening that referred to natural childbirth and placentophagy - eating the placenta. The article referred to another written by a woman either in the UK or Australia who indeed ate the placenta of her second pregnancy, and, despite her initial revulsion, ascribed nearly miraculous results from it (including less lochia, more milk, and not a depression but postpartum euphoria).

The example was that most mammals eat the placenta, but it's the near-cannibalistic perspective and just the "yuck" factor that keeps humans from doing it.

So, have you had any natural-birth advocates advocate for placentophagy - MD/DOs, or NMs, or FNPs, doulas, or whomever, or have you heard of or seen it done?

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[chrisisinnocent]

Yes I have heard of it done. One of my attendings told us about his mentor who used to practice in a very rural area and his patients would not let him take the placenta for pathologic analysis because they wanted to eat it. I have also seen a British TV show where a woman cooked her placenta and served it to her dinner guests.
As to animals doing it. I think the main reasons are: it's free calories and also a bloody placenta may attact predators. My dog will gleefully eat his own **** and vomit but you don't see me or anyone for that matter advocating the wonders of consuming ones own puke and poo.

 

[cliffh65]

It's an herb in Traditional Chinese Medicine, though it is not used often.

 

[undecided3yr]

I was visiting Australia where the current chiropractor/herbal b.s. industry craze includes sheep placenta products as a "natural"/fountain of youth alternative to HRT for postmenopausal women

They also have all kinds of magnetic products, especially bedspreads and sheets embedded with magnets.

 

[tiredmom]

They also have all kinds of magnetic products, especially bedspreads and sheets embedded with magnets.

That could be pretty uncomfortable with the piercings so many people have!

 

[DoulaMD]

Placentophagy is a lot more common than you might expect. It is most often used to help with excessive bleeding, PP Depression and faster healing after surgery or injury during childbirth. Below is some info on the science behind it. My cat enjoyed her placenta after every batch of kittens she had. I say why not, if people can eat haggis, cows toungs, liver and any other internal organ why not this one. After all Fear Factor does a lot more gross thing than placentophagy.

Placentophagy is the act of mammals eating the placenta of their young after childbirth.
The placenta contains high levels of prostaglandin which stimulates involution (an inward curvature or penetration, or, a shrinking or return to a former size) of the uterus, in effect cleaning the uterus out. The placenta also contains small amounts of oxytocin which eases birth stress and causes the smooth muscles around the mammary cells to contract and eject milk.
There is also a school of thought that holds that placentophagy naturally occurred to hide any trace of childbirth from predators in the wild, though the amniotic fluid not similarly ingested by the mother seems to discount this theory. Most placental mammals participate in placentophagy, including, surprisingly, herbivorous ones.

 

[FormerOB]

good idea... next time I get called in for a uterine eversion or the need for a cesarean hysterectomy, I will be sure to ask for the placenta, so that I may request the anesthesiologist to feed this to the mother as I try to save her life...

 

[Dianyla]

That could be pretty uncomfortable with the piercings so many people have!

It's highly effective for those who have a bad habit of kicking the sheets off at night and then waking up shivering.

(Seriously though - body grade stainless jewelry is not magnetic. It doesn't set off metal detectors in airports, either.)

ETA: To the topic at hand, Mothering magazine made big news a few decades ago by including placenta recipes. Yum.

 

[DoulaMD]

good idea... next time I get called in for a uterine eversion or the need for a cesarean hysterectomy, I will be sure to ask for the placenta, so that I may request the anesthesiologist to feed this to the mother as I try to save her life...

I don't think it was intended to be eaten during a major surgery but to assist with recovery afterwards. No need to get snarky.

 

[FormerOB]

well, you did say it was for excessive bleeding...

just make sure you keep your mouth shut and you step aside when your patient needs an OBGYN. (no disrespect intended)

 

[Shodddy18]

I had a patient over the weekend who wanted to practice a full lotus. This is the practice of leaving the umbilical cord intact until it falls off naturally. It usually remains attached for 4-5 weeks. The salt the placenta to help dry it out, and put spices and scents on it to cover the smell of rotting flesh...

This was the first I heard of this... nasty!!!