My Experience with Placenta Encapsulation

So, just having had a baby, I got to encapsulate my own placenta for the first time! This is actually my third baby, but I didn't learn of encapsulation as an option until shortly after my second child. I was very stoked to get to do my own placenta. I surprised my midwife by delivering my own placenta myself, but I couldn't help it, I was just so excited.

So, now that I have been taking my placenta capsules, I wanted to share of my experience. Now, I am very biased towards placenta encapsulation, however, this is an unbiased assessment of what I experienced. Take it for what it is.

Milk Supply:
This is a proven benefit of placentophagy. I honestly can't say for myself that it increased my milk supply. I have extenuating circumstances from a former surgery, however. It may have, but I just couldn't tell. I have been making the same amount of oz I was at the end of my breastfeeding with my daughter. I am also on a lot of other galactogogues. My milk was in by day 3.

PPD Avoidance:
Yes! I have not had any baby blues. It does really improve my mood. What it specifically did was increase my sense of well being. Right after having a baby, I usually feel quite vulnerable and worry about things that could happen to me or the baby, but this time, I just felt very good and balanced. I had a little bit of an emotional day on day four and that was it.

Increased Energy:
Definitely... though it felt much different than anything I had felt before. It wasn't like caffeine. It was just a stable feeling of energy, but so subtle, I couldn't really feel it, my energy just didn't run out much. I am sleeping great and I do not feel at all as tired as I did during my last postpartum. Last time, I felt like I got run over by a bus for months. I would hand off the baby in the morning to my husband and go back to sleep until noon. This time, I'm sleeping like 8 hours, still getting up with baby, maybe taking a two hour nap on some days but not all, and I feel great. I also have the energy to get stuff done around the house, but it's not a jittery kind of energy, so I can sit and relax holding my baby on the couch too.

Easier Recovery:
I experienced this. I don't know for sure that it was from the capsules, but this was by far my easiest recovery. Now, I did push out my daughter really fast and it was probably the easiest birth I've had, so I'm sure my recovery has something to do with that. However, I can say that I was not sore by several days after the birth. For my last postpartum, I was still sore several weeks later. My bleeding ended in less time.

Reduced Anxiety:
I struggled with severe anxiety and panic this pregnancy, which was very difficult and resulted in my needing medication. Even with the medication, I have not been able to manage it completely. Once I started taking the capsules, however, I have felt no anxiety. I have felt great and balanced. I have not really felt worried. I seriously sit on the couch holding my baby with a huge grin on my face because I am just so happy. The capsules truly are "Happy Pills."I would call my babymoon time blissful. I have had this overall sense that everything is going to be okay. I feel this comes form the capsules. If I forget to take them one day (and I have a few times) the anxiety comes back, so I then just go take the capsules and it goes away.

I'm so happy to now be able to say I've tried placenta pills. If you have any questions about what it's like or if I experienced any certain benefits that aren't mentioned here, please feel free to ask me!