I have long since been interested in looking at mammalian maternal behavior as a means of looking at how culture has influenced us. I’ve mentioned before that I’m very interested in Kathy Dettweiler’s work. She studied various mammals’ nursing patterns and based on indicators other than age, came up with an approximate “natural weaning” age for humans. . .which was between 5 and 7 years.
Placentophagy, while I admit is not something I’d be willing to try (certainly vomiting outweighs the alleged benefits, does it not?), definitely falls into this category. Placentophagy is the act of eating the human placenta after giving birth. This is what almost all mammals do. After they give birth, they then digest the placenta. The placenta contains helpful hormones and also in nature, wards off predators. Midwives on forums everywhere, swear by its effectiveness to stop post partum bleeding. Many mothers, or rather I should say many mothers that are actually willing to try it, tout it as THE natural cure all for the baby blues.
Before you start thinking this is only for crunchy granola types, know that this is hardly a new idea. Placenta has been used in traditional Chinese medicine for centuries. In the Czech Republic and parts of Morocco, new mothers believed that eating the placenta guaranteed future fertility. Women in Hungary on the other hand, would grind up dried placenta and serve it to their spouses in drinks so as to cause him to shoot ‘blanks.’
The theory behind placentophagy is that the placenta is chalk full of hormones and ingesting the hormones can help replenish those lost during child birth and help regulate them after birth thus staving off the baby blues. And just how exactly do you go about eating your placenta?
Well, according to various forums, you can refrigerate and dry the placenta and then grind it up and add it as a topping to pizza, or put it in a drink. Or you can take a little slice and make placenta sashimi. Or better yet, you can put it in a nice home baked lasagna.
Medical experts are quick to point out that there is no research to substantiate the claim that ingesting the placenta after birth cures the baby blues. However, I have to say that I beg to differ. While the research isn’t plentiful and definitely doesn’t get the press coverage that other things get. . .it’s out there. One great source for those who are interested is Placenta Benefits.