New Momma eats afterbirth, to new Daddy's dismay

I thought I had seen and heard it all -- all the nonsense that people do while they are trying to breastfeed a child can open your eyes -- but this is a new one. But it's probably only new to me because it's just something I never would have considered.

Time magazine columnist Joel Stein, a new dad, wrote about how his pregnant wife wanted to save their baby's placenta so that she could eat it.

Eating the placenta is supposed to have many benefits, including bringing your milk in for breastfeeding and preventing postpartum depression. It's also a practice that tends to gross out new fathers.

Stein thought 21 hours of labor would make his wife forget about saving the placenta -- but to his chagrin, she asked the nurses to put it in a plastic container. He took it home and, after wrapping it in every bag in the house, stuck it in their fridge.

The next day a young woman arrived at their home to cook it while Stein shot video. The placenta cook then freeze-dried it and turned it into pills for the new Momma. Now, Mommas, I know we think we've seen it all -- from "the bloody show" to exploding diapers -- but while watching Stein's video of the placenta preparation, even I got a little queasy. So be forewarned.

The woman who prepared the placenta told Stein she has already cooked up about two dozen this year and that her business is picking up. Recently, some other new Mommas bragged about serving up their babies' placenta on pasta and even on a sandwich!

Maybe this practice will begin to catch on in the Tampa Bay area soon too. So before you eat that beef jerky at a friend's house, you might want to make sure it's not something else.

-- Sherry Robinson

[Photo: Jupiterimages]

Comments

[PrincessHaven]

I was grossed out when my cat did it after she gave birth to a litter of kittens. Just because my cat did it doesn't mean I'm going to try it. Plus, I'm sure it might be good for me to eat someone's liver, but that doesn't take away from the fact that it is cannibalism, plain & simple.

[Karen]

Go Lori! I had a traditional Chinese medicine practitioner encapsulate both of my childrens' placentas because postpartum depression runs in my family and I also knew I would struggle with breastfeeding due to my medical history. I was willing to try anything to give my children the best possible start in life.

It is unfortunate, Sherry, that you reinforced Stein's "eeew yucky" approach instead of trying to present this in a balanced way.

It is sad that women (or men) would find a miraculous organ that the body created solely for the purpose of nourishing and protecting their unborn child to be "gross."

And why is it gross to eat this organ (which in this case is done by swallowing it dried, in capsules, not eating it as if it were a meal) but not gross to eat the internal organs of other animals?!

[Lori]

I'm trying hard to figure out what is so gross about this. It's not like people are eating it raw and unprepared. It's freeze dried and turned into capsules. There is some research that says this can really help some mothers with post partum depression.

Want to hear something really gross? Some people eat the flesh of dead animals! Gross, right?!

[labman57]

Here's a great opportunity for some enterprising culinary wiz to write a unique cookbook: "Pleasantly Piquant Placental Preparations for the Non-discriminating Palate".

[Jonathan]

I'd be VERY interested in the supposed "scientific evidence" that eating a placenta is any better than a balanced diet after childbirth. Smells like typical pseudoscientific pablum from the tree-hugging set.

[alicia price]

can I e-mail this articla to my weirdo friend in N.C? Pray for these people to have clarity.

[Veteran Momma]

OMG I think I just threw up in my mouth...

[Meg]

Good call Laurel. The body gets some of the nutrients back after the rigor of childbirth and the nutritional depletion of the mother both in birth and lactation. All the good stuff goes to baby first, mamma after. Nature's way of recycling and giving mom strength to rear her babies. Human mammals or not. Nature doesn't care that we've started manufacturing synthetic replacements.

[Anna]

Actually, I have heard of Native Americans eating the placenta after they give birth. I do not know if the practice is still continued.

[TechRider]

This was demonstrated on a British cooking show a few years ago, with several guests eating the cooked and served placenta. The women that had done the cooking and serving were arrested and charged with cannibalism. I don't know if they were ever prosecuted. But, dam!

[Gross!]

No other way of putting it! I have two children and I am glad this wasn't common practice then! Different strokes for different folks! And Sherry I don't see anything insulting about it.

[tweek]

This is repulsive any way you look at it.

[Shallow Hal]

I think I'm gonna hurl .. *eooop*

[Helen]

There is actually very good scientific evidence that consuming the placenta is very effective at preventing PPD and numerous other issues that many new mothers face. Every other mammal consumes the placenta after birth and after all we ARE mammals!

This "journalist" is looking for shock factor to get attention but really should try reporting facts instead!

[Ellie]

I started to freak out, till I read it was finally put into a pill form. I thought the placenta was a filter? Hmm, what would that contain? What do I know ? Not much I guess.

[Tim]

Let me be the first to say " Ooooooo " &
" ICK " .......... I'll even throw in a " WTH " ????????

[cg]

My wife and I decided to save the placenta and bury it under a sapling. I think we learned everything there was about the placenta over the course of two weeks midway through the pregnancy: from it being considered afterbirth in the hospital, to lotus birth, to eating the placenta. Interesting stuff.

[laurel]

This sounds like a journalist looking for something controversial just to get a fired up response. Especially in the way the editorial is presented. There is nothing "wrong" with this practice. What is wrong is the writer exploiting it for attention. I understand the purpose of an editorial, but insulting something merely because you don't understand it is really low. Sherry- If you bother to educate yourself on this subject you might learn something! Congrats to all the OOooos and ICKss you will undoubtedly provoke.