# What to do with the placenta....



## Mervs Mum

Now the MWs will happily take it with them but this time I decided (about 2 days before!) that I'd like to keep mine. I'd regretted not at least looking at my previous placentas so I'd initially decided I wanted a picture and to see it... then I got thinking about 'doing' something with it.....

We made prints and then planted it under a special plant in our children's play area....here's the album on FB with explanations :)



WARNING! includes placenta pictures!
https://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=161182&id=717353444&l=84a5ad343e


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## silver_penny

That was wonderful, thanks for sharing. I am hoping to plant a tree on top of mine, but I still haven't fully decided if I want a Lotus birth or not, so I guess time will tell!


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## JenStar1976

Great pictures! I just had a quick look at mine and then the MWs took it away. We were half joking about selling it to a footballer neighbour of ours who had a leg injury at the time - there were stories in the press about Serbian footballers massaging horse placentas into their injuries! I've heard that the placenta is a great fertiliser - although I never kept my placenta and buried it, the contents of my birthing pool were poured onto our lawn. We have the best looking lawn in our street! 

Here's a link to Wikipedia explaining what other cultures do with the placenta. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Placenta x


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## Blob

I LOVE the idea of this but Robin thinks its so so gross :haha: so i dont think i get to. I am DEF having a look at it though :)


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## Mervs Mum

Keith wasnt sure either Sarah but he's really proud of it now! He loves telling everyone about the home birth and Sidney's plant with the placenta under it! :cloud9:


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## Blob

:) I think Robin possibly would be too TBH he just thinks i'm now going mad :haha: Was going to ask what Keith thought...gosh from him not wanting a home birth to this :)


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## Mervs Mum

Exactly!!! Mad isnt it!! He raised an eyebrow at the placenta but by the time it all came round he was well up for it!!


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## lozzy21

Id like to plant mine but only have a little yard :(


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## milkmachine

i 'ate' mine :D i made prints from and encapsulated it. i plan on doing the same this time too x


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## homebirth

milk machine, do you mind me asking if you suffered from pnd? its just i read that eating the placenta can help reduce depression?


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## bky

I'll be planting mine. Don't have anywhere permanent so it will be probably going to the freezer first (because I haven't gotten my act together to get a large nice pot or tree for it yet), then a pot then maybe in a few years into the ground.


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## Blob

Right my mind is made up I'm keeping it and planting it :lol:


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## Mervs Mum

I think if you dont have a garden a lovely plant in a nice big pot would be great. Just make sure you dig it down to a decent depth so foxes dont smell it and try to dig it up. I really wish I'd kept Hebe's....we planted a Hebe bush in the garden when she was born and it would have been nice to out it under there.


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## lozzy21

Mervs Mum said:


> I think if you dont have a garden a lovely plant in a nice big pot would be great. Just make sure you dig it down to a decent depth so foxes dont smell it and try to dig it up. I really wish I'd kept Hebe's....we planted a Hebe bush in the garden when she was born and it would have been nice to out it under there.

Wonder how OH would take that:dohh:


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## silver_penny

You've got plenty of time to convince him of it! ;)


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## Blob

Yea mine just walked out the room muttering about how disgusting i am and who am i :rofl: 8 ish weeks to persuade him :haha:


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## Mervs Mum

Just tell the MW on the quiet and the morning after you've had the baby and he opens the fridge with it in....say your mother won a meat raffle....:haha:


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## bky

Mervs Mum said:


> Just tell the MW on the quiet and the morning after you've had the baby and he opens the fridge with it in....say your mother won a meat raffle....:haha:

:rofl::rofl:


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## lozzy21

Ok i just got laughed at called a tit and said it was a stupid idea but he dosent care what i do


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## Blob

:rofl:


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## lozzy21

Should i ask him if he rather i eat it :rofl:


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## x-Rainbow-x

love looking at your prints, there fab!!


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## silver_penny

:rofl: you could always try that. The yuck factor is definitely higher with the eating concept. Show your OH a recipe for a placenta smoothie, and then show him a nice little tree and ask him what he would prefer!


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## Mervs Mum

eeeeewwww.....after birth smoothie.....


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## Celesse

We have communal gardens so don't think the block would be too happy if I planted mine. I didn't have anything to do with mine at my section, but my mum saw it and thought it was very big.


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## silver_penny

Placenta smoothie recipe here's a nice little recipe!


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## goddess25

I had planned on taking some prints of mine i had some special cloth stuff that my midwife told me about.... ended up i never even saw it... my hubby did and he told me it was heart shaped and he saw both sides and was pretty impressed with it. I wish I had seen it but i was in theatre as the wee one was stuck so i forgot about my plans. This time around I am definitely going to look at it at least.. and maybe i should have a placenta party...... :)


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## bubbles

I love looking at placenta prints, I saw milkmachines a while ago. I plan on encapsulating mine (not keen on the pot roast or smoothie recipes) DH is fine with this but I think he wouldn't be as forth coming with the idea of prints. I do like the idea of planting it but as we are in rented property I couldn't leave it when it comes to moving


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## Mervs Mum

Milkmachine's prints inspired me to do mine :) My favourite is getting framed and hung in Sid's room :cloud9:


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## summer rain

We buried mine when I had a homebirth; a wild rocket plant started growing on top of it (could have eaten the plant but a bit dubious about eating stuff from the garden). We live in a flat now though and it doesn't really have any communal gardens just a few flowerbed type bits; so may bury it in my in-laws garden.


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## Blob

Well Robin has now totally agreed :) I questioned his sanity that he can work in the abattoir (sorry...we have a free range chicken farm :) ) and do all that yet something that is inside me and grown our baby is disgusting to him :wohoo: totally worked and he thinks it is quite a good idea now :)


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## Mervs Mum

:thumbup:


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## sleepinbeauty

I want to either have it put into capsules to eat (I can't cook for my life!) or plant a tree with it. WE'll see if we have a place by the time we have #1 though.

...also, I have to factor in OH's queasiness. lol


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## milkmachine

i brought my capsules for this time round today!


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## snagglepat

I would have considered encapsulation, but because we had a lotus birth the placenta was two and a half days old and well coated in salt before it detached so it wouldn't have been much good. It's actually still in our freezer as we knew we were moving and we wanted to wait to plant it in our long term family home. Now we're here we'll probably wait until this one arrives so we can plant them together (after another lotus birth). We've already decided we're going to plant a mulberry tree over the top and it will be lovely for them to both have played a part in nurturing the same tree. :)

Gina. x


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## Sophist

Dh is encouraging me to have mine encapsulated, but I'm not sure if I want to. For those who have done this, can you share your experience and whether you felt it helped you?


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## Kess

snagglepat said:


> I would have considered encapsulation, but because we had a lotus birth the placenta was two and a half days old and well coated in salt before it detached so it wouldn't have been much good. It's actually still in our freezer as we knew we were moving and we wanted to wait to plant it in our long term family home. Now we're here we'll probably wait until this one arrives so we can plant them together (after another lotus birth). We've already decided we're going to plant a mulberry tree over the top and it will be lovely for them to both have played a part in nurturing the same tree. :)
> 
> Gina. x

Just a thought: salt is generally very bad for growing things, after all there's the saying about sowing someone's land with salt to destroy their livelihood and mean they could never grow anything there again, so remember to soak it plenty to get rid of the salt before planting it. :thumbup:

I'm interested in encapsulation since I'm at high risk for PND and it's supposed to help, but... not sure I can get over the ick factor. I LOVE the printing idea. I want the best one on the nursery wall. I don't think I can do both, though, unless I used edible paint lol.


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