According to the National Institute of Health, the placenta is the least understood and the least studied organ in the human body. But if you hang out with any birth workers for even a short amount of time, you’ll quickly learn its definitely one of the coolest and most amazing organs. 

To start, one day you don’t have a placenta and the next day you do! The placenta starts to develop shortly after the egg is fertilized. The placenta’s role is to provide oxygen and nutrients to the baby, produce hormones to support the pregnancy and fetal development, to remove waste, and to provide immunity to the growing baby. Both the baby’s blood and the mother’s blood is found in the placenta, but they don’t intermingle. Even more interesting, fetal cells have been found to pass to the mother. There are studies that show that there is a higher content of fetal cells in damaged tissue which researchers believe is to help target and heal those injured cells in the mother. 

Interestingly, ingesting your placenta isn’t a new practice, but it seems to be gaining popularity or at least more people are learning of this option. The newest research shows that there isn’t any harm in doing so (assuming you don’t have any communicable diseases), but there is no research that shows any benefit. Anecdotal evidence suggests that eating your placenta may help increase your milk supply, stabilize your mood and hormones, minimize postpartum bleeding, and even increase your energy. If you do decide to encapsulate or ingest your placenta, just be sure to hire someone with experience who understands how to properly prepare it. 

Finally, while we can live without some other organs, the placenta is the only disposable organ. It actually expels itself after its purpose has been fulfilled. In some cultures, there are very meaningful practices after the placenta has been birthed. Some are hung from trees, buried in gardens, or left attached to the baby until it falls off naturally (called a Lotus Birth). Some cultures believe the placenta has protective powers over the birthing household. Whether you decide to ingest your placenta or not, I love the idea of honoring such a remarkable organ that you grew from scratch. I hope in the years to come, we c