Placenta
Given its vital role, shockingly little is known about the placenta - HT.com
image by: In Joy Birth
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Placenta Poem
At the beginning of your world, I was part of you.
Made of the same luminous fabric, flesh of your flesh, of our father and mother’s being.
As we grew, we were separated but united. I fed you, breathed for you,
became a pathway for the flushing currents of our mother’s blood.
As you slept, I was your cradle and your guard; when you awoke I was your companion.
Together for that last day I leashed you the very limits of our linking line before
releasing you to the touch of others – lovers, yes – but surely none will hold
you as nearly, as sweetly or as softly as I did.
As our connection was severed you wept for me once, then were gone.
Carry me…
Resources
Thank You for Not Eating Your Placenta
As an obstetrician and gynecologist, it’s hard to shock me. Or at least it used to be.
The Placenta, an Afterthought No Longer
An ephemeral organ, long dismissed merely as afterbirth, increasingly is viewed as critical to understanding the health and course of pregnancy.
Why the Placental Microbiome Should Be a Cautionary Tale
A new study suggests that evidence for microbes found on placentas was the result of lab contamination.
CDC Case Report: If You Eat Your Placenta, This Can Happen
What could possibly go wrong? After all, Kim Kardashian, Alicia Silverstone and January Jones have done it. Well, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) just reported a new possible risk of eating your own placenta. In other words, be careful when ordering delivery.
Hey, moms: eating your placenta could sicken or kill your baby
Just don’t do it.
No, you shouldn’t eat your placenta, here’s why
In almost all mammals, the placenta - the organ that develops in pregnancy to provide oxygen and nutrients to the baby and remove waste products - is eaten by the mother immediately after giving birth. Humans and aquatic mammals are the only exceptions. But the number of women choosing to eat their placenta has increased over the past decade. The most common way to consume the placenta is to have it made into capsules.
The Mysterious Tree of a Newborn’s Life
Given its vital role, shockingly little is known about the placenta. Only recently, for instance, did scientists start to suspect that the placenta may not be sterile, as once thought, but may have a microbiome of its own — a population of micro-organisms — that may help shape the immune system of the fetus and affect its health much later in life.
How About a Placenta Party?
There is a growing trend in humans for placentophagy - the act of mammals eating the placenta. Now before you make assumptions as to the sort of people who do this, let me give you some examples that may surprise you:
Is Maternal Placentophagy a Wise Recommendation?
In a mess of unreliable information combined with a lack of research around maternal placentophagy, how do we know how to best advise our patients on this matter?
Placenta - Ma... Mother of Us All!
My placenta saved my life. She created me, and she saved me. When my mom was 8 ½ months pregnant, she became deathly ill with food poisoning. The placenta’s job is to protect my body and brain from harmful organisms. She did her job by filtering out the poison in the blood, preventing it from passing through my umbilical cord and into my body
Placenta Facts: The 'Least Understood' Organ Is Pretty Freaking Amazing
The placenta is the lifeline between a mother and baby and is considered “the least understood human organ but arguably one of the most important.
Problems with the placenta
Your placenta is the marvellous, one-use-only organ that your body grows in pregnancy to support your baby's life and enable healthy development. When it works properly, it's an almost miraculous piece of kit, yet there are situations where problems arise that can threaten your baby's wellbeing. Some are more common than others, but all can be worked around as long as they are picked up early.
Researchers believe the placenta’s importance goes well beyond birth
Given its vital role, shockingly little is known about the placenta. Only recently, for instance, did scientists start to suspect that the placenta may not be sterile, as once thought, but may have a microbiome of its own — a population of micro-organisms — that may help shape the immune system of the fetus and affect its health much later in life.
Scientists Are Growing A Human Placenta On A Chip
In order to understand how the organ selectively transmits cells from mother to child.
Should You Eat Your Own Placenta?
Sure, actress January Jones, reality TV star Kourtney Kardashian, and many other celebrities have done it and loved it. But a new scientific paper on placentophagy finds no health benefits for women who chow down on their own afterbirth (or pop placenta pills).
Study Sees Bigger Role for Placenta in Newborns’ Health
The placenta, once thought sterile, actually harbors a world of bacteria that may influence the course of pregnancy and help shape an infant’s health and the bacterial makeup of its gut, a new study has found.
What to Expect When You're Expecting to Eat Your Placenta
A new review of the literature finds no evidence that “placentophagy” is good for mothers. It could even be harmful.
When a Placenta Tries to Kill a Mother
How C-sections increase the risk of a rare and devastating disorder.
Why People Eat Placenta And Wipe Babies with Vaginal Fluid
From vaginal seeding to lotus births, a new set of natural postnatal practices are raising eyebrows across the country. We talked to women and obstetricians to find out why these "holistic" demands are becoming a new normal.
Placenta Poem
At the beginning of your world, I was part of you. Made of the same luminous fabric, flesh of your flesh, of our father and mother’s being.
Placenta Donation
The gift of life could be the gift of healing. Don’t let your placenta go to waste.
International Federation of Placenta Associations
IFPA is currently a Federation of four placental research organisations from different regions around the world.
International Placenta Stem Cell Society
The International Placenta Stem Cell Society is an independent and non-profit organization which promotes advances in placenta-derived stem cell research and development, with the final aim of applying these cells for cell therapy.
Placenta
Placenta publishes high-quality original articles and invited topical reviews on all aspects of human and animal placentation, and the interactions between the mother, the placenta and fetal development. Topics covered include evolution, development, genetics and epigenetics, stem cells, metabolism, transport, immunology, pathology, pharmacology, cell and molecular biology, and developmental programming.
Placenta Benefits
PBi is on a mission to educate women about the benefits of using placenta for their postpartum recovery.
Placenta Course
PBi is the original, largest and most recognized placenta encapsulation organization in the world. By joining PBi, you will associate yourself with other Placenta Encapsulation Specialists (PES) who hold a high standard of practice and ethics.
Patient
The placenta provides for exchange of nutrients, oxygen and waste products between the mother and fetus, as well as being an endocrine organ for the synthesis of hormones and neurotransmitters and a barrier to toxins and infection. It is derived from both maternal and fetal tissue, with approximately one fifth derived from fetal tissue at term.
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