Thursday, April 16, 2009

Placenta Sandwich

Ok the title is enough to kill me but this is the article my Doctor handed me yesterday - Here is the article - there was also a picture of a "placenta sandwich" but that didn't really come through. I'm sure my eyes were as wide as saucers when I responded to her question with WHAT??? Like a cat??? she laughed and said it's this new progressive things that some Mom's are doing to increase their energy levels after birth. Well, good for those Mom, I'm so not one of them - my response is a big loud EEEWWWWW!!!!!!!
The article follows is in italics because they aren't my words.

She ate her placenta and it was good

So says Chrissy Schilling, a new mom who recently feasted on placenta pasta and placenta sandwiches two days after giving birth to a baby girl.

“The energy levels I had before and after the [placenta] consumption were immediately noticeable to me,” Chrissy told Momlogic in this post. “The first 24 hours after my daughter’s birth, I would nurse on the move around the apartment, showing her around, but would have to take frequent breaks to sit because of how light-headed I felt. But after that second night, with a belly full of placenta, those dizzy spells completely vanished….”

Chrissy’s twin sister, Kathy, was the chef who gleaned placenta-eating inspiration and recipe ideas from this scatological blog (which I find disgusting and creepy). She told Momlogic she had “fun” preparing the heavy, beefy organ that is rich in feel-good hormones.

“First, I washed off any clots and snipped/tore away the membrane,” Kathy said. “…The umbilical cord required a pair of scissors to cut through and I had to marvel at how incredible tough that piece was. After it was pretty clean, I sliced it into bite-sized chunks, and cooked it….The taste of the meat itself was surprisingly tasteful (I thought it’d be bland, but it absorbed the flavors of the ingredients very well). It wasn’t tough, but not sloppy either. Just the right kind of texture I like.”

In some cultures, women eat their nutrient-rich placentas to restore postpartum hormone levels, thereby warding off depression, according to this and other reports; however, no scientific studies have proven that human-placenta ingestion prevents the baby blues.
But Kathy told Momlogic she felt “pretty giddy” after eating her sister’s afterbirth.
Yeah, I’d feel giddy, too, because I’d have to be stupid-drunk to eat placenta. And even then, I’m pretty sure I’d puke and faint.
First off, I’m a vegetarian (except when pregnant). Secondly, I’m a unadventurous eater. I’m still traumatized from two Saturdays ago, when I attended a pre-wedding dinner party at a fancy, expensive, trendy restaurant. One of the menu items was fried pig’s head, which just makes me sad.
There’s no way I’d even consider eating placenta. What about you? What do you think about the practice? And if you’ve tried it, please tell us what it’s like.

5 comments:

Sara said...

I don't think I could stomach it, personally, but I wouldn't be too judgmental. There are a number of things I could not have imagined doing before I had kids, that do not seem strange now!

Kathy Prophete said...

I really wanted to make Sebastien's placenta into capsule pills but I waited to long...now I think I'll plant under a tree at my parents house. It is supposed to really help with postpartum depression. The next baby's placenta is definitely getting ingested one way or another!

Becky said...

Interesting...now, if it was in pill form I could probably stomach it - they saw it really does wonders for the hormone levels after a pregnancy. I had never heard of anything like that before, I was telling one of my teachers (from China) and she wasn't shocked at all - in fact she had a recipe....so obviously it's been happening in other cultures for some time.
So Kathy, you still have your placenta? Really? Like in the freezer?

Kathy Prophete said...

Yep! Our midwife gave us a fascinating look at it shortly after Sebastien's birth.

Me said...

That is the most freaking disgusting thing I have ever read and I have four kids. UGH!!!!