Placenta Encapsulation offers so many amazing benefits to the new mother and I am very passionate about making sure that everyone who would like to try it can have it done. After all, Koala Therapies trained Specialists have an 100% positive feedback record!  So, if this is something that interests you please get in touch.  I can offer several options with regards to the service I provide and I will do everything I can to find an option to suit your budget and requirements.

 

Did you know?  A huge 80% of mothers experience "the baby blues" in the first few days and weeks after giving birth?  Because it is such a common occurrence, it is simply expected to happen and nothing is typically done about it until it worsens into post partum depression.  If this happens anti-depressants may be prescribed.  

Anti-depressants of course, like almost all drugs, are passed to the baby through the breastmilk, and mothers who don’t want to expose their babies to medications are often faced with the decision to either stop breastfeeding or struggle on with depression.  Women suffer through the baby blues almost as a rite of passage to motherhood – but it doesn’t have to be this way. 

Placentophagy (consumption of the placenta) has been reported for decades to help stop the baby blues and to diminish postpartum fatigue.  Some women have cooked the placenta in a stew, mixed it into a smoothie, or even taken it raw to tap into its powerful effects.  However, let's face it, this is hardly the most mouth watering of ideas!  I know for me it was important that I could reap the benefits of placenta for more than just a day or two and because of this I started doing some research into Placenta encapsulation.  

Powdered placenta has been used in Traditional Chinese Medicine for centuries.  During the Post Partum period, Placenta capsules can:

 

  • prevent the 'baby blues'
  • prevent postpartum depression
  • replenish essential hormones such as oxytocin and CRH(stress reducer)
  • replenish essential nutrients such as vit B6 and iron
  • increase milk production
  • reduce stress levels
  • leave you feeling calmer
  • give you the energy to cope with a busy day
  • they can even be saved in the freezer for the menopause and help you sail through the hormonal ups and downs of this time!

 

Although current research on human placentophagy does not exist, what we do know is that women who take placenta capsules report fewer emotional issues, have more energy and tend to enjoy a faster, more pleasant postpartum recovery.  The first few days and weeks with your new baby are precious.  Give yourself the best chance to fully enjoy your “babymoon” with placenta capsules.

How does it work?

I will collect your placenta soon after the birth and return your capsules within a few days.  Your placenta will be dehydrated into capsules that will provide you with the essential hormones and nutrients your body lost following the birth of your baby which will help you banish baby blues, postnatal depression and that drained feeling that some women can experience after birth.  You will heal faster and feel calmer and more positive than you would do without these nutrients. 

Did you know?

The Placenta is an amazing organ!  Cosmetic scientists have been using placenta in age defying face masks and creams for years to supplement the skin of lost vitamins and hormones with age.   Many top athletes are now using the placenta to aid speedy recovery from injuries too.  Placentas are about to become big news!  In fact, sometimes it seems to me that the only people who aren't told about the benefits of the placenta are the mothers who produce them!   In many countries placenta is like gold dust!  Placenta injections are given during lunchbreaks so that businessmen and women can continue working and feeling wonderful - think what your own placenta could do for you and your baby.

Testimonials from delighted new mothers in the UK and America have shown that placenta dehydration and encapsulation was the key to their plentiful milk supply and quick recovery following birth.  You can find some Testimonials at http://placentabenefits.info/ and also at www.koalatherapies.com if you are interested.

Prices

Home / Hospital Collection - From £200

Drop Off Service (you arrange to deliver your placenta to me & I send you back your capsules by recorded delivery within 48 hours) - £95

** During your encapsulation your baby's umbilical cord will be dried into a spiral shape for you as a keepsake of your magical journey together.

I also offer this service as a Gift so if you would like to purchase an Encapsulation for a friend or loved one (fantastic as a Blessingway or Baby Shower gift) do get in touch and we can work something out for you.  I am happy to work out payment plans (to be completed by the date of the encapsulation) and I also accept payment in the form of goods and services. Get in touch and we'll find a way! 

 If you would like to know more about Placenta Encapsulation and the many benefits it can bring you, please get in touch with me at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

 

TESTIMONIALS

"I remember when the midwife who delivered our first baby, enthusiastically showed me the placenta in a bowl ready to go to the hopsital to be disposed of. This triggered something very instinctive in me that told me it was somehow wasteful for this vital, fleshy thing to be discarded after everything it had done. Before this I probably didn't even know what a placenta was and would have considered consuming it to be rather kooky! When I became pregnant with our second child I knew I didn't want to let go of my placenta in the same way and I looked into placenta encapsulation and was thrilled to discover Michelle Holmes. I remember a moment of feeling tremendous loss after my first child was born when I looked at my bump and realised it wasn't there anymore. I fully anticipated that moment again but it never happened and I think it is because a full circle has been made around this birth because I have every part of my baby with me and close to me. My beautiful jar of capsules is so unique and precious and has kept me feeling very balanced - for me it has given me physical strength and a feeling of stability. The smoothie was wonderful as well - no fleshy taste at all - just strawberries and apple and I drank the whole pint in one go! There is so much wisdom in taking the placenta and so much care and thoughtfulness in the way Michelle prepares mothers and presents a package to be treasured - the dried umbiical cord is such a sweet momento. I felt that my placenta was in really safe hands with Michelle and the placenta is nourishing our whole family by nurturing mummy - thank you!"  - Michelle, Devon (natural home birth)

"I had the placenta encapsulated by Michelle Holmes and have found it incredibly beneficial in both my physical and emotional postnatal recovery."  Louisa, Cornwall (natural birth of breech baby)

“If I ever have another baby I will definitely be encapsulating my placenta.  Michelle is such a caring and professional lady and she really went the extra mile to make sure I benefitted from my placenta as soon after birth as possible.  Unlike when my first and second babies were born, this time I feel very calm, balanced and happy and I’m enjoying the first few weeks with my baby.  I would recommend Michelle’s services to any expectant mum.  Thank you so much!”  Debbie, Cornwall (natural home birth)

 

Other Uses for the Placenta

A British designer named Alex Green has made a  teddy bear out of a placenta, which has caused a bit of a stir in the UK where  it’s still on display in art galleries.  Isn't it sweet?

The reason he was inspired to do this was to provoke thought about Western society’s disdain for an organ that sustains life. “I was trying to give the placenta a bit of PR,” he says.  

You can read an article about this here: “Placenta Teddy Bears,  Meals Sier Debate, Revulsion.  Inventive Uses for the Afterbirth  Include Placenta Pill, Objects,  Trees.”  By Lauren Cox, ABC News  Medical Unit, November 10, 2009:

http://abcnews.go.com/Health/MindMoodNews/placenta-teddy-bear-turns-heads/Story?id=9043347&page=1

In the Philippines, where my mother is from, women bury the placenta with books because they believe it will help their child become intelligent.

In Nigeria and Ghana, the Ibo believe that the placenta is the dead twin of the live baby and honour it as such by giving it full burial rites.

Eva Longoria, the star of "Desperate Housewives" and face of L'Oreal reportedly keeps her face looking baby soft and beautiful by using a face cream which contains placenta protein extract.

Among the Navajo Indians of the Southwest, it’s customary to bury a child’s placenta within the sacred Four Corners of the tribe’s reservation as a binder to ancestral land and people. New Zealand’s Maoris have the same tradition of burying the placenta within native soil. In their native language, the word for land and placenta are the same: whenua.

Among the Hmong culture of Southeast Asia, the word for placenta can be translated  as “jacket,” as it’s considered an infant’s first and finest clothing. The Hmong bury the  placenta outdoors, believing that after death, the soul must retrace the journeys undertaken in life until it reaches the burial place of its placenta jacket.

Buddhists liken the unfolding of the lotus petals to the unfolding of the divine within the human self.  The closed bloom represents the heart with its infinite potential for enlightenment.  The open blossom represents the enlightened self.  Lotus jewelry is a cherished keepsake for the new mother after a lotus birth (where the cord and placenta are left attached to the baby until they separate naturally).

By placing the placenta on a piece of paper it is possible to create beautiful placenta print to keep as a momento.  The resulting image looks just like a tree and some call it "The Tree of Life".  If you take a piece of watercolor paper and lay the placenta on it, along with the cord still attached you'll have something you can cherish forever.  You can also add colours to it afterwards with paint if you wish.  Hang it in a boxed frame because the ‘ink’ is a blood born base and it protects the art as well as others being exposed to the material.   

Some people bury their placenta in their garden to enrich the soil and celebrate the new life given to them.  It is a dedication of the placenta back to the earth in honor of the child that has come into their lives. A year later, a tree, flower, bush is planted int he same spot to allow the placent to nourish its growth.  The waiting of a year is to assure the growth or a new seedling because the nutrient rich placenta can potentially kill anything planted before a year.  I recently spoke to a lady who buried her placenta under an apple tree... and the apples were delicious!

Michelle Holmes is certified as a Koala Therapies Placenta Encapsulation Specialist providing the first and only services in Devon and Cornwall.  Koala Therapies Placenta Encapsulation Specialists are highly trained to provide you with the safest placenta encapsulation services available in the UK.  We adhere to Environmental Health Office Guidelines and practice placenta preperations to Food Hygiene Standards.

Koala Therapies also hire out kits so you can "do it yourself" if you would like to do this!  Kits cost £65 at the time of writing.  If you are in any other area of the UK than Devon and Cornwall you will also find details of other specialists on the site www.koalatherapies.com