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Best Birth Books
  • Ina May's Guide to Childbirth
    Ina May's Guide to Childbirth
    by Ina May Gaskin

  • Birthing from Within: An Extra-Ordinary Guide to Childbirth Preparation
    Birthing from Within: An Extra-Ordinary Guide to Childbirth Preparation
    by CNM, MA, Pam England, PhD, Rob Horowitz

  • CALMS A Guide to Soothing Your Baby
    CALMS A Guide to Soothing Your Baby
    by Carrie Contey PhD; Debby Takikawa DC
  • Birth As We Know It
    Birth As We Know It
  • The Business of Being Born
    The Business of Being Born
    starring Ricki Lake, Dr. Michel Odent, Abby Epstein, Cara Muhlhahn, Dr. Marsden Wagner
  • What Babies Want
    What Babies Want
    starring Noah Wyle;Joseph Chilton Pearce:Sobonfu Some';David Chamberlain
  • Creating Your Birth Plan: The Definitive Guide to a Safe and Empowering Birth
    Creating Your Birth Plan: The Definitive Guide to a Safe and Empowering Birth
    by Marsden Wagner, Stephanie Gunning
  • Mothering Magazine's Having a Baby, Naturally: The Mothering Magazine Guide to Pregnancy and Childbirth
    Mothering Magazine's Having a Baby, Naturally: The Mothering Magazine Guide to Pregnancy and Childbirth
    by Peggy O'Mara
  • Gentle Birth, Gentle Mothering: A Doctor's Guide to Natural Childbirth and Gentle Early Parenting Choices
    Gentle Birth, Gentle Mothering: A Doctor's Guide to Natural Childbirth and Gentle Early Parenting Choices
    by Sarah Buckley
  • The Prenatal Yoga Deck: 50 Poses and Meditations
    The Prenatal Yoga Deck: 50 Poses and Meditations
    by Olivia Miller
  • Bountiful, Beautiful, Blissful: Experience the Natural Power of Pregnancy and Birth with Kundalini Yoga and Meditation
    Bountiful, Beautiful, Blissful: Experience the Natural Power of Pregnancy and Birth with Kundalini Yoga and Meditation
    by Gurmukh Kaur Khalsa
  • The Natural Pregnancy Book: Herbs, Nutrition and Other Holistic Choices
    The Natural Pregnancy Book: Herbs, Nutrition and Other Holistic Choices
    by Aviva Jill Romm
  • Naturally Healthy Babies and Children: A Commonsense Guide to Herbal Remedies, Nutrition, and Health
    Naturally Healthy Babies and Children: A Commonsense Guide to Herbal Remedies, Nutrition, and Health
    by Aviva Jill Romm
  • Baby Catcher: Chronicles of a Modern Midwife
    Baby Catcher: Chronicles of a Modern Midwife
    by Peggy Vincent
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Monday
04Feb

Placenta Encapsulation

pregnantbelly.jpgWhen I was pregnant, I heard about the benefits of consuming one's placenta after the birth to replenish energy, facilitate a speedy recovery, and to prevent postpartum depression. I knew that placenta was an ancient remedy used for a variety of conditions for thousands of years in Traditional Chinese Medicine.

However, the few articles I read about it mentioned unappetizing recipes such as stir-fried placenta with onions and garlic, blending raw placenta into smoothies and drinking it, or even just eating it raw and plain. None of these methods appealed to me. I happily planted my son's beloved placenta in the garden behind the home he was born in.

I wish that I had the information then about placenta encapsulation. I am delighted that now I have been guided to Placenta Benefits - www.placentabenefits.info - an informative website about the powerful benefits of placenta medicine for postpartum health and more. The founder Jodi Selander offers placenta education and encapsulation services. You can also order a kit with instructions and tools to dry, powder, and encapsulate your own placenta.

The reported benefits of placenta consumption include increased breastmilk, increase energy, prevention of postpartum depression, and less postpartum bleeding. Your own placenta capsules are also excellent to save in the freezer for menopause. Small amounts of one's own dried placenta can be given to the baby or child for separation anxiety, such as the first day of school.  

I believe the placenta is a powerful healing remedy for the mother and baby and I am glad to see more modern methods of bringing this free and safe home remedy back to women and families. Placentas have been honored by cultures around the world since ancient times. In fact, the word placenta comes from old English placent and it means a round, flat cake. Thus, every year on our birthdays, we gather round and celebrate around a cake - known in olden days as a placenta - and eat it.


Reader Comments (4)

How interesting! Placentas are fascinating.
February 5, 2008 | Unregistered CommenterHannah
Thank you Kara for this wonderful article. I too encapsulate placentas for women postpartum. I have been doing it for over a year now. I have seen the amazing power of the placenta and think placentaphagia in a capsule is something that should be considered by more women.

I have recently oompleted the plancenta encapsulation specialist program with Jodi at PlacentaBenefits.com
Go to Jodi's website. She has several great articles and some great reserach that discuss the natural benefits of ingesting placenta.

My experience is that women feel very comfortable taking the capsules, espeically when they here all the good that can come from it.
February 5, 2008 | Unregistered CommenterPatricia Couch
Thanks so much for spreading the word about placenta encapsulation, and pointing people to PlacentaBenefits.info. Using the placenta for postpartum recovery is something that very few women have heard about, and I really appreciate your wonderfully positive message of support.
February 5, 2008 | Unregistered CommenterJodi Selander
I am so glad to see the word being spread about placenta encapsulation. I have gone through the specialist training from placentabenefits.info and the healing benefits are too great to keep a secret.
July 12, 2008 | Unregistered CommenterRoxane Kartler

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