SHOULD YOU ENCAPSULATE?
While studies on the benefits and effectiveness of placenta eating are lacking, there are many anecdotal reports that it helps support a happier and smooth postpartum transition. Placenta consumption may lead to many advantages such as better mood, increased energy, increased breastmilk production, lower chances of anemia and lower chances of the 'baby blues' or postpartum depression. 

There are 3 main hormones contained in the placenta:
​1. Oxytocin: helps bonding, pain relief, and helps with milk production and supply.
2- HPL (Human Placenta Lactogen): promotes the production of prolactin which allows milk production.
3- POEF (Placenta Opioid Enhancing Factor): Pain reliever.​

What is the Traditional Chinese Medicine method? 
For thousands of years, Traditional Chinese Medicine "TCM" has recognized the placenta as powerful medicine. It is used to augment the "Qi" also known as "life force energy", nourish the blood, and augment the kidney essence. This school of thought suggests that the dried placenta is used to bring the postpartum mother's body back into balance, replenishing what was lost during childbirth. 
The traditional process of TCM placental preparation involves lightly steaming the placenta with organic lemon and cayenne which is believed to form the action of the placenta medicine. In this process the placenta is steamed with these herbs, sliced thin and dehydrated. It is then ground into a powder and put into capsules. Adding heat to the placenta is part of what makes TCM style encapsulation unique. In Chinese medicine raw foods are generally considered "cooling" and to be avoided in the postpartum period. Within the TCM framework, raw placenta is considered cooling and isn't recommended in the postpartum as a general rule for the tonifying purposes of nourishing blood and restoring energy. ​

What is the raw method?
This method skips the steaming step and the placenta is dehydrated, ground, and then the capsules are filled. There is less research to support this preparation but it has become the most widely performed preparation of placenta medicine. The raw method is thought to retain much of the hormones and nutrients. However, we do not know the effect of steaming/cooking. This method generally yields more capsules as there is some shrinkage during steaming with the traditional method. Other options for ingestion include raw smoothies and tinctures. Raw smoothies are the best way to take your placenta ‘raw’, even over the raw encapsulation method. Here, small pieces of frozen placenta can be blended with fruit and juice/liquid to create a smoothie in which the taste of the placenta is undetectable.

How long is the process?
Encapsulation is a two day process and picked up the day of birth. On day 1 the placenta is prepared for dehydration and the drying process is started. On day 2 the dried placenta is ground and transferred into capsules. 

When should I not encapsulate? 
If it is not kept chilled, bacteria may grow and consumption should be avoided. If you developed an infection during labor, immediate postpartum, received Pitocin, antibiotics or an epidural during labor you should not consume your placenta. 

can I encapsulate from a previous birth?
It is best if the encapsulation is done within 48 hours of the birth, however, a previously frozen placenta can be encapsulated. The general guideline is that the frozen placenta should not be much more than 6 months old. If your placenta is older than this you may chose to explore other options like burial. Placenta prints are not possible with a frozen placenta due to the consistency of the blood after thawing

How many will I get & How long will they last? 
The number of pills varies between 25-200 depending on the size of the placenta. Around 50 "00" pills is common. Depending on the quantity of pills, you can take them up to 4-6+ weeks post partum. If you choose to stop taking the pills before then, the pills may be stored in the freezer.

how much should i take?
Take 2 capsules 3 times a day for the first two weeks and then slowly reducing the dose until you no longer need them. Begin taking them on day 3-4 after your milk comes in.

How do I get the placenta from the hospital and transport it? 
It's your right to keep your placenta after birth. You will need to find out the requirements and paperwork needed from your hospital. Encapsulation is not recommended for cesarean births, as you will have received medications that are contraindicated for consumption, but you may keep it for ceremonial purposes. The hospital will not release your placenta if you have an active infection or chorioamnionitis. If your placenta is sent to pathology it will come into contact with chemicals that should not be consumed. 

Is there an alternative to placenta encapsulation? 
We recommend out of all the ways to consume your placenta that you do the way mammals do after birth. This way, no nutrients are degraded or lost and hormones are not affected. Visit our raw smoothie recipe section. 

Historical uses of the placenta 

China

Africa
​The earliest recorded use of the placenta was in 1578 by Li Shi-Zhen, a medical and pharmaceutical expert of china. He included placenta as a medicine in his first TCM Materia Medica publication. It resurfaced again in Europe in the 1700’s in a scattered documentation, but it wasn’t until an American midwife studying TCM, Raven Lang, brought this tradition back to life in the mid 1980’s. In recent years, women in America, Aanada, UK, and Europe have started practicing placentophagia, the act of consuming placenta, by having their placenta dried and encapsulated it can help them in their postpartum recovery. 

Asia

In some cultures such as Vietnam and China the placenta is viewed as a life-giving force. Therefore, it is dried and added to certain placenta recipes in order to increase a person’s energy and vitality. In Indonesia, the placenta is seen as the baby’s twin or elder sibling and is perceived as the baby’s guardian throughout life. It is the father’s responsibility to clean, wrap, and bury the placenta on the day of the birth. Filipina mothers are known to bury the placenta with books, in hopes of a smart child. In Korea the placenta is often burned and the ashes kept. during periods of illness the ashen powder is given in a liquid to help heal the child. Among the Hmong culture, the word for placenta can be translated as “jacket,” as it’s considered an infant’s first and finest clothing. The Hmong bury the placenta outside as they believe that after death, the soul must journey back through the past until it reaches the burial place of the placenta and await rebirth. In Cambodia, the placenta is carefully wrapped in a banana tree leaf, placed beside the newborn baby for three days and then buried. In Thai culture the placenta is often salted and placed in an earthen jar. On a day deemed auspicious for burying this clay pot, a site is prepared and the placenta is laid to rest. The jar is buried under a tree that corresponds to the symbol of the Asian year of the child’s birth and depending on what month the child was born dictates which bearing the pot faces. The leaf is placed beside the newborn baby for three days and then buried. 

North America
The Ibo of Nigeria and Ghana treat the placenta as the dead twin of the live child and give it full burial rites. In many African cultures, “zan boku” means “the place where the placenta is buried.” and bury the placenta under a tree. The Kikuyu of Kenya place it in an uncultivated field and cover it with grains and grasses, while other cultures bury it in the dirt floor of the family’s house. Some African nations swaddle the placenta in blankets and bury it beneath a tree as a tree symbolizes ongoing life. In Mali, it is thought that the placenta can affect the baby’s mood or even make the baby ill. The placenta is washed, dried, placed in a basket and buried by the father. A belief held by many Arabs is the future fertility of a woman is connected to the disposition of the placenta. should something unpleasant happen to it the woman might be rendered sterile.

Europe

The commercial use of “placenta extract” found in some cosmetics, such as facial cream, is sold in France. In 1994, Britain banned the practice of collecting placentas in hospitals from unsuspecting mothers, after it was learned that 360 tons of it were annually being bought and shipped by french pharmaceutical firms. They used it to make a protein, albumin, for burns and to make enzymes to treat rare genetic disorders.

South America

In some regions of South America the placenta is burned after birth to neutralize it and planted in the ground to protect it from evil spirits. The indigenous Bolivian Aymara and Quecha people believe the placenta has its own spirit. It is to be washed and buried by the husband in a secret and shady place. If this ritual is not performed correctly, they believe, the mother or baby may become very sick or even die.

Oceania
For Navajo, it is customary to bury a child’s placenta within the sacred four corners of the tribe’s reservation as a binder to ancestral land and people. The Navajos also bury objects with it to signify the profession they hope the child will pursue. In Hawaii the placenta is brought home and washed, then buried following a religious ritual with a tree planted on it. It is believed this binds the child to his or her homeland. The “iewe” (placenta) of the newborn child is sacred and must be handled in a sacred manner in order to provide for the physical health of the child.

TURKEY

There is a belief that the food and drink a pregnant woman consumes, the people, animals and things she looked at, all affects the child. The same belief applies to the relation between the child and the umbilical cord and placenta. That is why the child’s umbilical cord cannot be thrown away haphazardly without, it is believed, influencing the infant’s future, employment and life. In the light of this belief, the umbilical cord; is buried in the courtyard of a mosque for the child to be a devout person, thrown over a wall or into a school garden for the child to be an educated person, buried in a stable for the child to be an animal lover, thrown into water for the child to search for his/her destiny elsewhere. The placenta is described as the end, friend, or comrade of the child. Since the placenta is regarded as part of the child, and even as the child itself, it is wrapped up and buried in a clean place in a clean piece of cloth after birth. Since women give birth in hospitals today, practices related to the placenta have totally vanished, although customs and beliefs regarding the umbilical cord are still common.
New Zealand Maori gift the placenta or whenua as a gift to papa tua nuku or mother earth. In Maori, the word for land and placenta are the same – whenua, and illustrates the connection between them and it is usually planted with a tree on family land. Some aboriginal tribes bury the placenta either under the tree where they birthed or under an ant pit for the green ants. Many believe that when the green ants eat the placenta no more babies will come or at least not for a while. In Samoa the placenta must be totally burned or buried so it will not be found by evil spirits. Burying or burning it at home also ensures the child will remain close to home as it moves through life. If buried under a fruit tree, the placenta provides nutrition for the tree that in turn will provide years of nutrition for the child.