Thursday, January 31, 2013

Can I Encapsulate My Frozen Placenta?

Yes, in fact, if the placenta cannot be encapsulated within 48 hours of birth, it should ideally be frozen to maintain maximum potency.

If you have a placenta in the freezer, it is possible that it will still have benefit up to six months postpartum. There are varying circumstances to this, however, including how the placenta has been handled, how soon was it originally frozen, and if it has been subject to freezer burn.

As a general rule, if you plan to encapsulate, it should ideally be done within 2 weeks of your placenta being frozen. After a month of being frozen, the placenta has a greater likelihood of freezer burn, but this is not always the case. Some mothers do keep the placenta frozen and if postpartum depression occurs several months after birth, they choose to encapsulate then.

The capsules from a placenta that was frozen are often a little darker, which should not be a cause for concern.

If you're having a specialist come to encapsulate your frozen placenta, we ask that you place your frozen placenta in the refrigerator at least 24 hours prior to the specialist coming to your home. It takes about 24 hours to thaw completely and thawing must occur for the encapsulation process to take place.

Here are the recommendations from Placenta Benefits according to their website:


Alternate Timeline:
If placenta can not be prepared within first 48 hours
48 hours - 2 weeks2 weeks - 4 weeksAfter a month
Double-bag placenta and freeze within first 24 hours of the birth. Thaw in the refrigerator (takes about 24 hours) prior to encapsulation.Placenta may still be encapsulated, however the longer it is in the freezer the less effective it may be to the mother.The placenta may be at risk for freezer burn and the longer its stored in the freezer, the less benefit it has to the mother.

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