Placenta Encapsulation

"Throughout the world, generations have passed down knowledge of how ingesting placenta helps a mother's postpartum recovery. Women using placenta remedies after birth feel stronger, are happier, and can breastfeed more easily." -Placenta: The Gift of Life by Cornelia Enning, Eugene, OR

Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) practitioners have incorporated placenta consumption into their healing regimens for over 1400 years. Anecdotal evidence suggests that ingesting the placenta after giving birth can improve mood, energy levels, and increase milk production. The placenta is ripe with the hormones estrogen and progesterone at term. During pregnancy, the placenta assumes temporary endocrine function resulting in rapidly declining hormone levels when the placenta is expelled after birth. This cycle is intelligently designed, as a drop in progesterone levels is exactly what is needed to trigger breast milk production. This is why it's best practice to wait until days 3-5 to consume your placenta. By this point, your rich colostrum is likely to have transformed into mature breast milk. Taking placenta capsules daily allows hormone levels to taper back to baseline in a gentle way. A placenta tincture can also be used whenever you're feeling emotional lows and need a little boost!

The TCM method for Placenta Encapsulation involves steaming, dehydrating, and grinding the placenta into a powder which is then put into capsules. The result looks just like any other vitamin or supplement. This is the safest way to consume your placenta, ensuring that no bacterial contamination occurs from consuming raw product.

The encapsulation is a two-day process. On the first day, the placenta is removed from the fridge and ran under cool water. The umbilical cord is cut from where it attaches to the placenta and potentially put aside for later to make an umbilical cord keepsake. The blood is then drained from the placenta as much as possible resulting in a supplement that is easier on the digestive system. Once the placenta has been properly drained, it is steamed for 15-20 minutes with ginger and lemon. According to TCM, ginger is warming and balancing, while lemon is tonifying and is said to help replenish energy. After steaming, the placenta is sliced into thin strips and placed in a dehydrator overnight. The following day, the placenta will be brittle and ready to grind into powder. The powder is then put into capsules and stored in the refrigerator for daily consumption.