Tips for Taking Home

Here are some tips about taking your placenta home from the hospital…

1. Hospitals are very supportive of you taking your placenta home, you just need to let them know that is what you want to do.

2. It is a good idea to put it in writing – make a note of it in your birth plan, discuss it with your care provider and have them put it in your notes.

3. Remind hospital staff upon arrival and after your baby is born that you want to keep your placenta.

4. Most hospitals will put it into a sealed container for you, but to be on the safe side you can take a 2 litre ice-cream or Tupperware container that has a secure lid. It can be helpful to have your partner or support person take on the job of making sure your placenta is looked after.

5. It is ideal to get your placenta in the fridge quite soon after delivery, however, the placenta is very robust and can be safe unrefrigerated for a while, but ideally kept cool. If there is no fridge available you can put a plastic bag of ice into the container with the placenta.

6. In the event that your placenta needs to go to pathology, request that only small samples are taken so that you can have the rest.  It is important that your placenta doesn’t come into contact with any formaldehyde, preservatives etc. If your placenta does go to pathology it may still be ok to encapsulate so talk to me at the time. There is often no benefit at all to your placenta going to pathology and you can decline this suggestion.

7. I have not had any issues collecting placentas from any hospital and have found Obstetricians and Midwives very supportive of families choosing placenta encapsulation.

It is easiest for me to collect your placenta during the day, so please notify me as early in the day as possible.

Thank you

Anna