Placenta Consumption on the Rise

by Fox Charlotte

Story Created: Sep 29, 2011 at 11:02 PM EDT

CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Lucas is Lisa Johnson’s fourth baby.  After her third, she battled postpartum depression.  Hoping to avoid that this time around, the Fort Mill, SC mom consumed her placenta.  She says, “I definitely did not deal with any postpartum blues with him.”

There are different ways women can consume their placentas but most commonly, they are encapsulated.  First the placenta is steamed, then dehydrated, then ground up into a powder, then put into a pill.  “It’s just full of hormones, vitamins, iron, all kinds of good stuff that helps them feel really good postpartum,” says Christina Gabbard aka “Carolina Placenta Lady.”  She is a certified placenta encapsulation specialist.

When she first started her business two years ago, it was slow going.  “Now I’m easily seeing four or five clients a week,” says Gabbard.

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http://www.foxcharlotte.com/news/sc-news/Placenta-Consumption-on-the-Rise–130827703.html

Doula Annie shares an article on Placenta Encapsulation

The Benefits of Eating Placenta by Jereka Hunt

Placenta consumption, known as placentophagy, is a not a popular practice in Western society but has been a part of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) for thousands of years. It has been used to alleviate anxiety and fatigue, replace lost iron and nutrients in postpartum women and even as treatment for sexual dysfunction among men. Though it is treated as human biological waste in American society, it is revered, valued and respected in many cultures around the world. Elaborate burial ceremonies for the placenta are practiced by the Navajo of the American Southwest as well as the Maoris of New Zealand. In select Siberian cultures, if a child becomes sick, the placenta burial site is treated, altered or even switched in hopes of curing the child.

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http://www.doulaannie.com/2011/03/placenta-encapsulation/