How To Make Homemade Placenta Pills- AKA Placental Encapsulation Tutorial

I was waiting to write this post for a while already, waiting till I had definitive results before I wrote a post writing all the cool stuff about placental encapsulation and taking placenta pills, but, unfortunately, I can't say 100% whether or not taking placenta pills helped me. There's a definite possibility, but I am not sure.

Let me back up.

What exactly is placental encapsulation?

Well, first off, for those that don't know, the placenta (also known as "the afterbirth") is something that develops from the blastocyst (cell mass) that develops from a fertilized sperm and egg. The blastocyst develops into both the embryo- the fetus- and the placenta- the organ that is implanted into the uterine wall that sustains the baby. All the nourishment that the baby gets passes through the placenta, and the placenta serves as a filter between what the mother has and what the baby gets. The placenta also secretes hormones necessary for the baby's development and being able to sustain the pregnancy.

In Chinese medicine as well as other alternative medicines, the placenta is ingested, typically by the mother, for medicinal purposes. This is known as placentophagy. Placentas can be ingested raw, cooked, in tinctures, and encapsulated, meaning made into pills.


The reason people ingest placentas is because placentas store a lot of nutrients in them, in addition to being full of hormones. Ingesting the placenta is said to help restore nutritional deficiencies that people get after giving birth, in addition to helping balance hormones in postpartum women.
For example, it is claimed that placentophagy helps with:

• Preventing anemia
• Increasing breast milk production
• Reducing the length and amount of postpartum bleeding
• Preventing postpartum depression and other hormone related mood swings
• Reducing the amount of stress hormone in a postpartum mother

It is said that, if saved and taken during menopause, it also helps women with their menopausal hormonal issues.

It is said that using placentas as medicine is really beneficial to postpartum moms because every placenta is different- its like an antenatal pill designed specifically for the mom herself, containing the exact hormones and nutrition that the mom needs, and it can't be replicated.

I'll be honest.

I don't know if I believe these claims. I was skeptical about them, especially since I spoke to my midwife who I agree with on most things... and she said she doesn't see any benefit whatsoever in placental encapsulation, and was even trying to dissuade me, because, as she said "Why bother, it probably won't help." 

At the same time, some friends of mine that are very knowledgeable about health and alternative remedies swear by placentophagy. One friend, in particular, is the furthest thing from "kook", is a very rational minded person, and doesn't do things just because "it is in style", said that she did placental encapsulation and it really made a big difference for her, that on days that she took the pills she felt much better, etc... and she highly recommends it.

Even so, it could just be the placebo effect, but you know what?

I said that it can't hurt to try.

I'm skeptical enough that I wouldn't be willing to pay someone to encapsulate my placenta, as many people today are doing. However, doing it myself I was willing to experiment. If it works, great. If not- no harm done.

There are three specific issues I am taking placenta pills for- anemia prevention, helping reduce postpartum bleeding, and preventing postpartum depression. Anemia is an issue I generally have, and in the past I've had issues with postpartum bleeding, and this time around, my plate is very full and I was worried that I'd be too stressed out from having a baby on top of everything else on my plate and I thought that would make me a likely candidate for postpartum depression, which I can't afford right now... 

Is it helping? Well, I have to go get another blood test to check my iron levels. (I checked mine last 2 days before giving birth.)

It definitely seems to be helping with minimizing postpartum bleeding.

And as for preventing postpartum depression- I haven't had any issues with that. I've honestly been on an emotional "high" since my awesome homebirth and haven't really come down from that- I still feel great emotionally a month later, despite having a lot on my plate. So I didn't really need the pills for that. Or maybe the pills are helping the high continue? Who knows.

Either way, it cost me nothing, other than time. So why not.
(I have to admit, part of the thought that crossed my mind when I considered doing placental encapsulation was that it was something I could blog about after! Ha.)

I'll explain the step by step process as to how I encapsulated my placenta. There is more than one way to do it- I did mine via dehydration, to preserve the nutrients as much as possible and to make it as easy as possible for me.
I am warning you now that many people will find these pics gross, as well as the whole idea. Someone asked me how I didn't puke when I did this, but I work with "animal parts" in the kitchen so often that this didn't seem much different to me than dealing with chicken liver, cow lungs, chicken hearts, etc... It's a hunk of meat, that's all. And anyhow, as long as I'm not pregnant, I have a stomach of steel. If it grosses you out... well, that's why many people pay others to encapsulate it for them.

The entire cost of this project, pretty much, was less than 10 dollars, for a package of 750 empty gel capsules from iherb. I used size 00, and have about 3/4 left of the bag to use to make other medicinal capsules. So in essence, $2.50 to encapsulate my placenta.

1. To start off with, take your placenta, and rinse it off. Don't scrub it, just rinse it. Its fine if blood remains in it. The blood is part of what is beneficial.

2. Cut off the umbilical cord. You can dry it if you want, in a pretty shape to keep as a keepsake. Or toss it. Or whatever.

3. Slice up the placenta into thin strips, as thin as possible. I tried at first with a sharp knife, but I found it actually was easiest with a pair of kitchen shears.



4. Lay out your strips of placenta on a lined baking tray in your oven. Alternatively, you can use a dehydrator, but since it drips, I didn't want to use my dehydrator for this.



5. Put oven on the lowest heat, with the door propped open, until it is fully dry. This should take between 12 and 24 hours. Flip the pieces in the middle to ensure that the bottom side dries as well. It is fully ready when you're able to break the pieces of placenta in half.



6. Grind up the placenta until you get the pieces as fine as you can. I used a coffee grinder. Alternatively, you can use a mortar and pestle but that'll be a lot more work.



7. Now you want to fill your capsules. This is the package of capsules that I bought.



8. To encapsulate them, open a capsule, stick one half of the capsule into a container of pulverized placenta, fill it up, and then cap it. It'll take time and will be somewhat boring. I did this, sitting down, while watching a movie. I don't remember how long it took, but I didn't mind since I was entertained.



9. I made about 170 capsules, if I remember correctly. They should be stored in the fridge.



10. Take 1-3 pills, 1-2 times a day. (If your pills are very full, take less. If your pills aren't so stuffed- mine have empty space in them- take more.) See how you feel after taking 2- if you don't feel any effect, take a third. If you feel any negative effects, like headaches, take less.

Enjoy!

Hope you found this post informative, and not too gross or kooky.

Have you ever heard of or done placental encapsulation before? If you were debating doing it before, have you changed your mind in either direction?

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