Placenta Encapsulation - to keep it or toss it?

Pic of the life giving organ, the placenta.

With all things in birth, as a Doula I come to it with “what does the evidence say” (The Pros & cons), What does that look like for YOU knowing your history and goals, and our 2 cents, but that comes with years of personal and professional experience and NOT personal opinions. At least 2/3rds of our clients ask us about placenta encapsulation during our prenatal care and here is the long winded, song and dance we share. 

The Placenta is a temporary organ that supplies your baby with blood and oxygen during pregnancy but also removes waste. Many report it being an integral part of their 4th trimester healing journey and do it for every baby. OB’s in the mainstream medicaid system tend to look down on it in general but that may be because there is no real data on its safety or efficacy. 

What does the research say vs. anecdotal evidence

There are very few actual studies done and they are considered poor quality studies which provide no actual information. Small sample size, short term and not randomized and while there is an ongoing, long term larger study being done through UNLV no data has been published since its original 23 person, 3 week study with inconclusive results since 2016. The long and short of it is, we believe anecdotal evidence is what we can rely on to help you make an informed decision for yourself.

We’ve been personally processing placentas since 2010 and over the years we’ve collected  feedback from each family. Many report consuming their encapsulated placenta helped with their milk supply, energy and mood throughout the day, helps with postpartum mood disorders, night sweats, hormone balancing and nutrient replacement. “I can tell when I forget to take it” is the biggest piece of commentary we hear time and time again. We use this to increase milk, help with PPMD, energy, postpartum hair loss, and balancing out those postpartum hormones. Some moms report feeling a bit queasy with it, especially if they were vegetarian but that's the worst that's been reported and it's far and few between. The way we see it’s like an insurance plan. It’s an investment you’re making in your mental and physical health especially if you need it. We’ve even had many clients over the years say they don’t notice anything but that they feel maybe it helps keep them at their baseline so why not make the investment in placenta encapsulation? They cost runs, locally, between $150-$350 here in central FL. We charge $250 for birth clients and $300 for everyone else. 

Placenta capsules & placenta print

Safety

There was one case of a mother and baby getting sick that came out of Portland, OR. I note the location because weird and gross things go down in the birth community out there like sharing (moon)menstrual blood for medicinal purposes. Yeah…. No one knows how that placenta was handled/processed or what happened in birth that caused that infection to arise that went untreated. It’s the only case out there and it’s quoted by some OB’s to deter families from consuming their encapsulated placenta but this happened nearly 10 years ago. 

We will not take a placenta for encapsulation if there is a fever present in labor, untreated GBS infection or any other communicable viruses/diseases. It is used on sterilized equipment in a secure and clean environment without exposure to other placentas to ensure safety to you and your baby.

Personally, I like to share my (Heather) story with it. As a skeptic by nature I need to see the magic happen for myself to put much faith into things and since there is no research and data to go off of and why not make my own pregnancy one big science experiment. After each of my pregnancies I’ve had relatively smooth postpartum journeys. My own 2 babies I didn’t do placenta encapsulation so I had my 2 constants. With my 3rd, I was a gestational surrogate and unexpectedly ended up in a c-section which to me is a huge variable. Not going home with a baby and a surgical birth; if there was ever a time for a science experiment, this was it. My midwife encapsulated my placenta for me and I noticed I was doing well enough on it. Not feeling any heavy feelings or anxiety and my milk supply ( I was pumping) was more abundant than it had been with my own 2 babies. It seemed like maybe it helped. Well I stopped taking them about 6 weeks in and left the rest in the back of my freezer for a rainy day. Around a year later my monthly cycle started to become very irregular. Some months I’d be 10 days early, 20 days late, 3 days late, 12 days late. Knowing this wasn’t my norm, on the 6th month of this, on the 6th day of being late, I took 2 capsules, for science. Within a few hours, my cycle started. Ok… it could be a coincidence. The next month, on the 6th day, again, my period started and the same outcome for the 3rd month. I was never late or irregular again. I didn’t continue to take the capsules, just those 2 each month on the 6th day and then never again. That tells even my skeptic self that all those good hormones are coming through and helping bring my body back to balance. I’m a believer now. 

While we are providing all that we know as Doulas, we also are resourcing information from Evidence Based Birth’s page on Placenta Encapsolution.