11 Things to do with a placenta

Have you heard about moms eating placentas after giving birth? It’s happening folks. I mean even the Kardashion’s are getting in on the placenta eating. Although, I chose not to eat my placenta, I did do something else kind of weird (see below)! I gave birth in a birthing center (birth story here), and was given three options for things to do with my placenta. But, after posting on C.R.A.F.T. faceebook, I discovered that most women who give birth in a hospital are not given any options. So, while some of these things on the list seem very bizarre to me, it is a complete list of things that you could possibly do with your placenta. And I like options, y’all!

3 placenta options I was given.

1. Dehydrate and pill placenta

From my brief research, this is the second most common option, next to allowing the hospital to dispose if it. For an another extra cost, a midwife at my birthing center would take your placenta home, dehydrate and make it into pills for you to take after giving birth. Friends who have done it, swear by it. I have actually had the opportunity to watch a placenta be cooked! Does it work? Who really knows. You can find article after article about the benefits of eating your placenta including increase milk production and balancing hormones. But, I did find a few that claim it might actually be harmful. And here’s another one about a woman here regrets eating her placenta. Oh and getting your placenta out of a hospital can be quite the feat. Apparently, in Texas you have to have a court order to take your placenta home. But, in Hawaii and Oregon you are legally allowed to take home your placenta.

2. Donate placenta to a canine police dog academy

This is the option I chose! My birthing center made it super easy. I did nothing with the exception of signing a piece of paper. If you are thinking you’d like to do this, I would contact a local canine police academy. Since a placenta is a human organ, police academics often use them to train canines. I’ve heard of centers providing a donation kit and then sending someone to come and pick the placenta up.

3. Dispose of the placenta

This is the default option for most placentas. I asked a baby nurse friend of mine how hospitals dispose of placentas. Here is what she said, “Hospitals contract out companies that deal specifically with medical waste. Medical waste includes things like amputated limbs, excess skin, and placentas. The hospital bags up the medical waste into special containers and then the company comes and picks up the bins when they are full and takes them to be incarcerated.”  Not all states consider placentas to be “medical waste”. Every state has different laws regarding placentas.  Hawaii and Oregon allow mom’s to take home their placentas without a court order!

9 More things to do with a placenta

4. Have Alex Green make you a teddy bear

Who would have thought you could have your placenta made into a teddy bear?!

5. Bury your placenta and plant a tree

Not a bad option in my opinion, especially if you are having a home birth and don’t know what else to do with it! Some cultures do this symbolically to represent the babies link to the Earth.

6. Placenta necklace

After a little research, I found two ladies on etsy.com who can do this for you. The one below is made from an encapsulated placenta pill.

7. Make a placenta print

Now here is a quick and easy DIY option, make a print of your placenta!

8. Placenta lasagna

There are lots of recipes for placenta lasagna on the ol’ internet! Sounds like you just cut your placenta into tiny pieces and cook it with the ground beef.

9. Placenta tincture

A tincture is simple a highly concentrated that is diluted at the time of consumption. To make a placenta tincture, a peice of placenta is mixed with Vodka and strained into a bottle dropper. For more details and recipes on placenta tinctures check out Bright Color Mom.

10. Placenta photography

I snapped a picture of mine.  It’s not cute. I will spare you the details!

11. Placenta smoothie

If lasagna isn’t for you, how about a smoothie? Katie DiBenedetto wrote a book called DIY Placenta Edibles. That’s all I know. Well that, and if I was forced to choose I would definitely go the smoothie route over lasagna.

12. Donate your placenta to science

At this time, it looks like this is only an option for women having a planned C-section.

If you’re pregnant or a new mama, here are some more useful baby related posts:

• Spilling the beans
• 10 nursery must haves
• Gender reveal party and 22 more gender reveal party ideas
• DIY pregnant Halloween costume
• Maternity pictures
• Black and White baby shower
• Twinkle twinkle little star baby shower
• 15 Things I learned about newborns
• 8 Things I learned about natural birth

I’m curious did you have placenta choices when you gave birth? Would you consider one of the above options? I’d love to hear…