Have you ever heard of this? UGH!!!!

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http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19859122/wid/11915773?gt1=10212

Have you ever heard of this type of request from a patient? I understand that there are a lot of cultural differences here in the US (so no flames please), but this honestly grossed me out. I also think this could have some really bad side effects for the mother's health.:barf01:

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Specializes in RN- Med/surg.

I've heard there are alot of health benefits of it..but hadn't heard of anyone doing it. We were also trained in OB to always ask first if the patient wants the placenta. I live in a cultural diverse area and many of them want to bury it- they consider it a part of them and not waste.

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Specializes in Rehab, Med Surg, Home Care.

I don't work in OB but yes, eating or burying the placenta did undergo a certain popularity among back-to-nature type moms a few years back.Never heard of it being done to prevent post-partum depression, though; the thinking was just that animals eat their placenta so it must be a natural thing to do. Burying the placenta was said to be done in some native cultures as a way to give the child roots to its home (I think).

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*gack*

But then, animal mamas eat the placentas.......

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Specializes in Oncology.

I agree it is gross to me, however, I can see it not for others...it is unorthdox, but like other posters have said, nature does it.

I wouldnt do it though

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yes, i have seen this before. we were told this in school and i have seen it otherwise.

have you ever seen hair care products on your store shelves that are made with animal placentas? i have used them on myself lol :)

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Specializes in ED, ICU, PACU.

Was she originally planning to serve it in steak tartar fashion (uncooked but ground up) :barf01: or grilled on a bun (hamburger style) ? Kinda hard to believe her now that she says it's going dry it up to a powder and bury it... :barf02: Getting sick thinking about what she really is going to do with it once she gets it into her hands.

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Specializes in FNP, Peds, Epilepsy, Mgt., Occ. Ed.

Animal mamas may eat their placentas, but some of them eat their babies too!!!! :uhoh21:

Makes me queasy to think about it.

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I wouldn't be shocked or disgusted by anyone wanting to bury their placenta. I can understand why some cultures do this, but to eat it is something entirely different. To me it would be on the same par as eating an amputated limb, removed organ, etc.. Each to their own, I guess. It reminds me of a book I read for extra credit in Microbiology called Deadly Feast which talked about how certain people in New Guinea used to eat the flesh of their dead relatives. It's pretty bizarre.

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Yes I have heard of both eating it and planting it.

Planting it, okay maybe... but eating it, YUCK!

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Specializes in SNF.

Oh my gosh!! Yes!! A good friend of mine in Nebraska was asked by her nurse if she would like to eat the placenta she had delivered from her daughter's birth!! I thought this was so weird, and it sure raised a few eyebrows of people I had told the story to! She is caucasian, and doesn't even have features of a different race.

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Specializes in Me Surge.
*gack*

But then, animal mamas eat the placentas.......

and some animals eat their stool too.

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