All the Things You Can Do with Your Placenta

Clients ask me all the time what they might be able to do with their placenta, and are surprised to find that they have many options! I'll walk you through each option from the simplest to the most involved. Content Warning: photos of real placentas are included below.

The first thing you need to know is that in Illinois, and especially in the greater Chicago area, the precedent for the placenta belonging to you is already set. If you choose one of the options below that include taking your placenta from your birthing place, you will have to sign a form (at the hospital), but no one can stop you from taking it. That said, I've had some clients be told that the doctor "strongly recommends" that they send their placenta to the lab (aka "pathology") for further inspection. Sometimes there is a very good reason to consider pathology, other times not so much. You'll need to talk more to your doctor to clarify what they are hoping to learn.

For example, a client who had gestational diabetes was told that she shouldn't take her placenta. When she asked for a reason why, the doctor didn't really have one. So, she asked again if she could take it. The doctor said they wanted to send it to pathology "to look for any concerns related to baby that they might have missed." My client pressed again, now alarmed that something was wrong with her baby. The doctor just kept encouraging her to think it over before making a decision without giving a clear answer. That confused all of us.

Finally, she got a concrete answer: they wanted to check to see if they could find an explanation for my client's excess amniotic fluid. My client was an informed decision maker and knew that her gestational diabetes had caused her higher fluids, and that confirming that wasn't going to a have an impact on her baby or her baby's care. When she asked to talk to the doctor one more time, we were told that the doctor wasn't available and that now the doctor said it was totally fine to take her placenta home (I understood this to mean that the doc didn't have time to come back).

Bottom line: your placenta is yours to do whatever you want with.

All the Placenta Options

Leave the Placenta at the Birth Place for Disposal

Disposing of your placenta as biohazardous waste is the most common, default option for your placenta. It will most likely sit in a refrigerator in the hospital until it is incinerated in batches with other placentas.

Some of my clients are worried that the hospital will sell their placenta. In the U.S., it is illegal to sell any human organ, including the placenta. There have been reports in the past, but no recent issues.

I have had clients who do not wish to take their placenta home for a variety of reasons, but who still want a moment to see it and thank it. You might do this publicly or silently.

Send Your Placenta to a Laboratory

Sending your placenta to the lab ("pathology") is not something that you can request. Some research hospitals may ask you for your placenta if they are currently running a study, but you'll know for sure because someone will come around with a consent form.

Your provider may also ask to send your placenta to pathology. In my experience, this is most common when my client has preeclampsia or is suspected to have an infection during labor. When your placenta is sent to pathology it is not to conduct research, but rather to try to find answers about why something happened in your pregnancy or birth. Determining whether or not a placenta should be sent to pathology varies widely depending on the doctor or practice and the criteria is not standardized. Ultimately, you are an important member of the decision making team.

Request a Placenta Tour

If you don't want to see a real placenta, stop scrolling and close this option!

Normally, after the placenta is born it is placed in a bucket in the corner of the room and not mentioned. Many people who are just meeting their baby don't even think to ask to see it until it is already gone.

Some of my clients know that they don't want to take their placenta home, but that they do want to see it or take pictures of it. Usually, it is best to communicate with your provider about it in advance. A doula can also help! When providers are busy and rush out the of the room, I will offer to glove up and give my clients a tour. If someone isn't sure, I always offer to take a picture for them that they can decide to see later or not.

sacred cave where your baby grew

Have Placenta Art Made

Placentas are called "the tree of life" for the beautiful branching vessels that resemble a tree and the "trunk" umbilical cord. For some, it isn't appealing to see or look at their placenta, especially people who are generally queasy. For others, seeing and honoring the placenta is a point of pride. You grew an entire, disposable organ. From scratch! Placenta art offers a less bloody way to admire your placenta.

If your doula offers it, they can take your placenta home to make a print. This can be as simple as a print using the blood from the placenta (which will fade over time with light exposure) to as complex as an art print created from the initial base imprint of your placenta and embellished with paint.

Many doulas, including myself, offer this as an add on during placenta encapsulation.

Bury Your Placenta

If you want to take your placenta home, but aren't sure what to do with it, burying it is an option. I've had families bury their placenta under a special tree, while others buy a tree to plant on top of the spot. In some cultures, fruit trees are selected so that the family can continue to benefit from the fruit of the placenta for years to come. Others love the idea of a tree growing with their child or family. The practice comes from Native Hawaiians who traditionally plant the placenta with a tree.

You may want to explore your own cultural practices because in some religions and cultures, burying the placenta anchors the spirit to the world or is important for religious reasons. For example, in Hmong culture, the placenta must be buried at home in order for the spirit to travel to the afterlife.

Placentas are nutrient dense and make excellent fertilizer. If you are a gardener, and can dig a deep hole to keep out the critters, this may be the best option for you.

Encapsulate Your Placenta

About 20% of my clients choose to encapsulate their placenta. The placenta is steamed and dried out in order to be ground up into pills that can be taken throughout the early postpartum period. You can read more about my process here.

Because the placenta is the maker of pregnancy hormones, and because postpartum mood swings are related to the rapid drop in pregnancy after birth, it is believed that the placenta works as a gentle hormone replacement therapy to offer a more gentle drop off in the early weeks.

Sometimes clients are discouraged from doing this by their doctor, or they have found scary information online. I have a blog post that goes into detail about the risks and benefits.

Have a Lotus Birth

A lotus birth entails leaving the placenta attached to the baby via the umbilical cord until the placenta dries out and detaches on its own, usually in about 3-10 days. Think of it like a very long delayed cord clamping. Instead of waiting 5 or even 30 minutes, you're waiting days.

Image credit

Logistically, this is probably the most involved. You will need to keep the placenta dry and clean. The baby will need clothes that open in the front (snap or magnet onesies work well). Most families keep the placenta in a placenta bag lined with a chux pad or diaper and filled with salt and dried herbs to help with the smell. The dressings will need to be changed often. You also need to be careful when lifting your baby that the cord doesn't get tugged.

The main benefit here is a slow detachment process, which is often most appealing to those that believe the placenta has spiritual significance. The baby and placenta decide the right moment to detach and the placenta - especially because of the more mindful handling and longer time period - is honored. There is not any research available on benefits or risks.

If you'd like to read more, I recommend Robin Lim's Placenta: The Forgotten Chakra. Note that if you do this, you cannot encapsulate your placenta.

The placenta is the active interface of the most biologically intimate connection between two living organisms. The human placenta connects a mother and her baby physically, metabolically, and immunologically.

(Power & Schulkin, The evolution of the human placenta, 2012)

No matter what you decide to do with your placenta, I hope you feel a sense of pride for growing the life support system that created and nurtured your baby for 9 months. Placentas are bloody organs, yes, but they are also the place of exchange between parent and infant during gestation. You grew a whole organ!

Please feel free to reach out if you have questions about your placenta and what you might do with it.