Check your hospital or birthing center’s policy — before you go into labor. Most hospitals treat the placenta as biohazardous waste and dispose of it along with other medical waste (from needles to blood). If you want to keep yours, you’ll need to arrange that in advance. Check with your practitioner too. If he or she’s not a fan of placentophagy, you could try to find a more accommodating provider or petition for a change in procedure.
Follow safe-prep practices. Once you have your placenta, it’s better to freeze it or cook it right away, since like any “meat,” placenta can spoil. Some new moms hire professional placenta preparers (many midwives now know how to prep placenta, too), who dehydrate the afterbirth, grind the dried meat into a powder, and turn the powder into pills that can be swallowed daily. If you go this route, make sure no other herbs or unknown ingredients are added to the mix. Other mothers with stronger stomachs cut the membranes (the thin layer of tissue) away from the placenta, then cook it like any other type of meat: in stews, spaghetti sauces, chili, or patties. Or you can make a smoothie with frozen placenta.
Monitor yourself. No matter how you decide to dish up your placenta, stop taking the pills or eating the meat if you feel sick after ingesting it. And if you do experience PPD, don’t wait around for the “magic” of the placenta to kick in — talk to your doctor, who may suggest therapy or antidepressants.
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