You just a baby and received your placenta capsules.  You are so excited (like really, really excited!) and also tired (like so, so tired!) and not only do you not retain anything your encapsulationist told you about your caps, you also misplaced the instruction booklet amongst the hundreds (literally, hundreds!) pieces of paper that accompany a new baby (coupons, baby cards, gift cards, weeks of unopened mail, medical docs... you know what I mean, right?).

It's three months later, you're returning to a new normal (maybe? sort of? at least pretending to?), and you come across your leftover placenta caps.

Now what?

I always tell my clients that I hope they'll use up their caps in the first 6-8 weeks postpartum.  My opinion is that this is when they will be of most benefit to new moms, as their bodies are undergoing the huge adjustment from being pregnant to not being pregnant.  This is not to say that they will not be useful later than that, just that I suspect the benefit is greater when they are used closer to birth. (I regularly use my placenta tincture from my last baby, who is almost two, with great benefit.  Excuse me while I go mourn the loss of his childhood.)

That said, things happen.  Sometimes capsules get forgotten in the crazy.  Sometimes a placenta is amazingly ginormous and there are just more caps than are needed. Whatever the reason for leftover caps, there comes the inevitable question: How should I store my capsules long-term?

Once you are not taking your capsules regularly I suggest double-bagging them in freezer bags.  I always include a desiccant pack in my clients' capsules so be sure to include that if you have one. Then, store in the back of the fridge (or, a deep freezer if you have one).  This minimizes the risk of capsules being subjected to temperature changes. This is important because the one thing that will make them unsuitable for use is the presence of mold. If caps are subjected to lots of temperature change (as can happen in locations like freezer doors, bathrooms, our the kitchen) this can lead to moisture from condensation and, given the opportunity of a warm climate, mold can develop. Freezing temps will suppress mold growth but it doesn't kill mold. 

Assuming your capsules have been processed properly (this means absolutely no oven drying and making sure they have been dehydrated long enough), mold will not magically occur.  

Oh no!, you say.  I've had my caps in my fridge for the past three years!  Or, they've been sitting in my cabinet for the past eight months!  Are they ruined?

I will always advise you to inspect your caps.  Open one up if you need to.  If you see mold, toss 'em.  If they smell spoiled, toss 'em.  But if they look and smell fine and you feel comfortable to take them, use those babies.

One final note:  We suspect that the quality of the caps will degrade over time, especially at colder temperatures.  Think of meat that is stored in the freezer for a year or more.  You can still eat it with freezer burn, but it probably doesn't taste so great.  So again, focus on using those caps within a few months of giving birth to experience greater benefits.

I recently added the option of choosing the Raw Method to the placenta encapsulation services at Tyo Birth Care.  I tried this myself after the birth of my last baby, and was so pleased with the results!

The Raw Method of placenta encapsulation is appealing to people for different reasons.  Here are three reasons why YOU might choose to use the raw method when having your placenta encapsulated:

1. You enjoy a high-raw (or all-raw!)  diet.  This typically means that the food you eat is never heated above 115-118 degrees.  It's important to you to maintain the integrity of this in all the supplements you take, including your placenta pills.

2. You prefer to avoid as much processing as possible.  While the steaming process used in a TCM (Traditional Chinese Method) encapsulation is still quite minimal, you would prefer to not risk losing some of the nutrients and hormones that are suspected to diminish during contact with the high heat.  As a result, some women report more intense benefits (more energy, more milk, etc...) from taking their placenta pills.  On the flip side, occasionally women will feel the benefits 'too much' - they might liken it to feeling jittery from too much caffeine.  This can often be tempered by lowering the amount of pills you are taking.

3.  You want more pills!  The number of pills that your placenta will yield is affected by many things including its original size, how fine the placenta is ground, and the steaming process.  The placenta does shrink significantly during the steaming process, so you are practically guaranteed more pills if you go the raw route.  (That said, most women have more pills than they end up needing, and running out of pills isn't typically an issue for short-term usage.  For long-term usage, say for menopause or for your child's teen years, I would recommend a tincture as the better option.) 

These reasons aside, both methods of encapsulation are wonderful and beneficial and the choice is truly a personal one.  Do you have experience with raw encapsulation?  I'd love to hear about it in the comments! 

When I first started encapsulating placentas for Chicago and Northshore women a year ago, I decided to keep my offerings fairly simple.  As I've found my placenta encapsulation groove, I've added in new options so that my clients will have a bit more choice in their  placenta encapsulation experience.

My first new addition is to offer berry-flavored, purple-colored capsules instead of only the clear, tasteless ones I've been using.