I certainly cannot really imagine a mum coming out of the labour room hungry for the raw pllacenta of her baby.When mum-of-three Jennifer Bulcock, 31, of Sheffield has her first meal after giving birth, it’s certainly a dish with a difference.
She says: “Gazing down at my newborn little boy, I cherished every moment as I breastfed him for the first time. I took in every detail of his precious little body and felt the most unbreakable bond as I became a mum for the first time.
“But as soon Alfie was finished, and I carefully placed him in his cot beside me, there was another job I had to do.
“My husband Toby handed me a plate. It wasn’t a sandwich or hearty meal. It was the placenta I had delivered just minutes earlier.
“Chopped into small pieces the deep red, raw organ, that filled a small dinner plate, was to be my first post-birth meal.
“Picking up a piece, I placed it into my mouth. It tasted bloody and spongy, like liver. But before I could think too much about it, I washed it down with a gulp of orange juice.
“I repeated the motion until every morsel had gone and all that remained on the plate was a few drips of blood. ‘How was it?’ my firefighter husband Toby asked. ‘Different but fine,’ I answered.
“I knew most people would think I was crazy to eat my placenta, but I had my reasons.
When mum-of-three Jennifer Bulcock, 31, of Sheffield has her first meal after giving birth, it’s certainly a dish with a difference…
She says: “Gazing down at my newborn little boy, I cherished every moment as I breastfed him for the first time. I took in every detail of his precious little body and felt the most unbreakable bond as I became a mum for the first time.
“But as soon Alfie was finished, and I carefully placed him in his cot beside me, there was another job I had to do.
“My husband Toby handed me a plate. It wasn’t a sandwich or hearty meal. It was the placenta I had delivered just minutes earlier.
“Chopped into small pieces the deep red, raw organ, that filled a small dinner plate, was to be my first post-birth meal.
“Picking up a piece, I placed it into my mouth. It tasted bloody and spongy, like liver. But before I could think too much about it, I washed it down with a gulp of orange juice.
“I repeated the motion until every morsel had gone and all that remained on the plate was a few drips of blood. ‘How was it?’ my firefighter husband Toby asked. ‘Different but fine,’ I answered.
“I knew most people would think I was crazy to eat my placenta, but I had my reasons.
"I’d always suffered from severe premenstrual syndrome and was worried I’d go on to develop postnatal depression. Anecdotal evidence suggested properties in a raw placenta could help reduce the chances.
“I was willing to try anything – no matter how weak the link.
“I’d checked with my midwife and she couldn’t see a reason for me not to give it a go.
“And with Alfie, who is now seven, despite going on to develop mastitis and an abscess in one of my breasts, resulting in a week in hospital, I didn’t develop PND.
"So I did the same again for my second son Ben and our daughter Jessica, now five and three.
“Each time, I ate them raw straight after I’d finished my first breastfeed.
“Afterwards when I told friends and family, they looked at me oddly and thought it was weird.
“Nobody else I knew had even considered eating their own placenta. But, for me, it was something I felt strongly about and there was no reason, nutritionally or medically, to prevent me.
“I don’t know if it helped prevent me getting post natal depression, or whether it was just psychological, but I never became depressed and enjoyed those first precious years with my children.
“I couldn’t have asked for anything more.”
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