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

Nurses General Nursing

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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:

i knew someone who ate her placenta right after giving birth!! her own mother mixed it with her food!!! The elders said that it will prevent complications and will help the body recover fast!!

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and some animals eat their stool too.

:lol2::lol2::lol2: you're very serious!you made me laughed w/ ur comment,...medsurgnurse

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Eating a placenta!!! YUCK!!

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So.....the hospital kept this slab on ice in the kitchen while awaiting the court decision, or what? Yikes.

One person's medical waste is another person's snack. Go figure.

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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.

She was asked this by a nurse in a hospital in the US, after an otherwise typical birth? Bizarre is all I can say.

I imagine my response would be (after picking my jaw up off the blanket), "well thanks, but I'll wait for my tray later....if you don't mind, I'd rather NOT have the staff eating my placenta either....please just go ahead and waste it!!"

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Specializes in nursery, L and D.

Regardless of how we all feel about the yuck factor of eating a placenta, there was no reason that hospital should have denied her the right to have it. What the heck do they want it for? And exactly what kind of "risk" is there to allowing dad to take it home in a container and a bag?

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Specializes in High Risk In Patient OB/GYN.

Ingesting the placenta has been shown to decrease the incidence of hemorrhage. It's also said to reduce risk of PPD and helps stabilize the hormones more quickly. It's completely healthy to eat (why would the OP be concerned about safety?). Eating stool is really just comparing apples to oranges, as eating stool is obviously dangerous.

After saying that, knowing the benefits, I'm not sure I'd ingest my placenta personally. I have some nonsolidified plans to bury it and plant a fruit bearing tree over it...circle of life and all that good stuff.

She was planning on drying it and putting it into capsules, it's not like she was going to just munch on it with some salt and pepper for crying out loud.

I believe her now that she says she'll bury it--I wouldn't ingest something either that was frozen in a hospital for that long. Ew.

No matter what your opinion of this practice, this woman had a right to take her placenta home with her. It was wrong of the hospital to refuse to release it to her.

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Specializes in LTC.

As long as the mother doesn't offer me a bite, she can do as she pleases with her placenta.

On that note Google "placenta recipes", the results are slightly shocking.

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

That's exactly what I was thinking.

Also, wouldn't a mother eating her placenta be some form of canibalism?

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Specializes in Case Management.

There was a similar thread on this subject a while back. I saw a show on HBO or the discovery channel about a woman who took her placenta home and had a party for the baby. She prepared a pate with it and served it on crackers.

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Specializes in midwifery, gen surgical, community.

One of the home birth mums I delivered wanted to keep her placenta. She buried it in her back garden. Unfortunately, her dog dug it up and had it for dinner!!!!

As for breast feeding in public - why are we denying a human babys right to nourishment when he/she needs it. Come on, we are in the 21st century. How can anyone compare breast feeding with urinating?

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Regardless of how we all feel about the yuck factor of eating a placenta, there was no reason that hospital should have denied her the right to have it. What the heck do they want it for? And exactly what kind of "risk" is there to allowing dad to take it home in a container and a bag?

i agree!!!!!!!

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