placenta options

So you’d like to preserve your placenta somehow…

There are lots of options for preserving the placenta and once you settle on which one you would like (or why not try them all if you can?) then you’ll need instructions and a plan of action. Placenta preservation is a time sensitive matter so you will want to make sure that you’ve got your placentas in a row and ready to go. Here are your options:

• Capsules
• Tincture
• Balm, Salve, and or Cream
• Homeopathic Remedy
• Essence (like flower essence)
• Art (affectionately referred to as a Placenta Print)
• Bury it
• Discard it
• Donate it
• Cook it
• Smoothie

What would you like to do with your placenta? Depending on what you choose will depend on how you act when concerning this little piece of birthing history.

After you “birth” the placenta, you will have 24 - 48 hours to prepare it accordingly.

Tincture, Homeopathic, Essence, Art, Cooking, and smoothies all use pieces of the raw placenta before it has been cooked, dehydrated, or frozen. Keep this in mind when you are creating a plan for your placenta.

Capsules, balms, salves, and creams are a two-step process as you must prepare the raw placenta within the 24-48 hour period of time but once you dehydrate the placenta you can take a little extra time to encapsulate or prepare a cream (etc).

Consuming the placenta in its raw form whether by cooking or smoothies will definitely require your action within the first day or following day after birth. Cooking the placenta will require you to cook within the recommended 24-48 hours after birth for freshness and to avoid spoilage. Making smoothies will require you to place the placenta in the freezer (preferably in small chunks to blend as desired) as soon as possible as frozen meat (placenta) will keep much longer than refrigerated placenta.

Donating your placenta would necessitate you find the right organization, make sure you qualify for donation, and know the process- where to drop it off, who to speak to, etc. You will also want to abide by the 24 - 48 hour time and make sure that you are preserving the placenta in the manner requested by the hospital or organization accepting your donation.

Finally, burying the placenta can be done at any point though the sooner the better as no one likes to smell spoiled food stuffs (I can only imagine what a rotten placenta would smell like). If you have a ritual in mind for burying your placenta, you will want to have all such things in order.

In the chaos of birth, many of these things can be overlooked or forgotten. If you’re home-birthing, it is much easier to keep track of your placenta. If you are in the hospital, it may slip your mind or be difficult to locate after the birth so knowing how much time (24 - 48 hours) and what you would like to do with your placenta will help you to get the most out of your birth experience the way you desire. 🙂

If you’d like more information on how to do any of these placenta fabulous things on your own, check out our little DIY Placenta book with recipes & directions on how to prepare any of the above things you might like to do with the placenta as well as the benefits of placentophagy (consuming your placenta) and placenta related information.

Do you have any other ways that you know to honor the placenta? Leave it in the comments. 🙂