Placenta Encapsulation

Placenta Encapsulation

After you give birth to your baby, you will also birth your placenta, the “tree of life” organ that connected you to your baby by way of the uterus and the umbilical cord. For nine or so months, the placenta provided nutrients and oxygenated blood to your baby and sustained life!

placenta print art therapy umbilical cord paint purple gold yellow maternal fetal side connected

The human placenta is rich in vitamins, minerals, and hormones that, when properly prepared for ingestion, may greatly enhance a woman/birthing person’s postpartum recovery.

Additional benefits may include:

  • Nourish the blood of the new mother/birthing persons

  • Enhance breast/chestmilk production

  • Promote postpartum recovery

  • Improve energy and quality of sleep

  • Reduce the onset of postpartum depression, anxiety, and other PMADs

All of the above are crucial to a new mom/postpartum person’s ability to adjust to both the physical and emotional changes that take place after a baby is born.

placenta pills capsules encapsulation print artwork consumption hormone therapy minerals vitamins mason jar

Placenta service package includes:

  • Placenta capsules (~80-150 capsules)

  • Placenta tincture

  • Umbilical cord keepsake

Additional placenta services available.

Placenta Encapsulation $375

Once you book, our Lead Placenta Specialist will contact you to answer additional questions you may have and ensure you’ve completed the service agreement. This service is confirmed once you have reviewed, signed, and returned the service agreement and our Placenta Specialist team has made contact with you. Once the service agreement is signed and in place, $150 of the total fee paid is considered a non-refundable deposit.

Tip: Communicate your plans to your medical care team, add placenta encapsulation to your birth plan, and add your Placenta Specialist’s contact to your phone(s).

When labor begins, you and/or your birth partner will alert your Placenta Specialist. Ideally within 24 hours of your birth, your Placenta Specialist will pick up your placenta from your home, birthing center, or hospital. You and your Placenta Specialist will coordinate pickup of the placenta and delivery of the placenta pills. The encapsulation process typically requires 24 to 48 hours to complete.

Once your capsules are ready, your Placenta Specialist will deliver the capsules to you. You will also receive information on taking the capsules.

  • "In the crazy tumultuous times of labor and welcoming a newborn into your life, the last thing you wanna do is an extra task. But Debbie was ON IT. she was so well informed, kind and a great communicator. She worked with us, navigated all the Hospital paperwork, had the dried placenta pills delivered it so promptly!!!! I would wholeheartedly recommend this to all mamas to be. Excellent experience all around! Thank you Debbie and LA Birth Partners!"

    Hasmik G

Lead Placenta Specialist & Team Coordinator, Debbie Paeff Benton CMA/CD, ICCE, CLEC, HCHI, HCHD:

Debbie Paeff Benton is the owner of Birth Happens Naturally. She is a very experienced educator, birth doula, postpartum doula, and midwife assistant, serving Los Angeles County for over 20 years. She is a certified childbirth educator (ICEA - The International Childbirth Education Association), a Hypnobabies Instructor, Hypno-Doula, Evidence Based Birth Instructor, Body Ready Birth Instructor, Expectations Health Coach (Dr. Sears Wellness Institute), a Lactation Educator Counselor (UCSD), and certified as a Doula specializing in acupressure for pregnancy care and labor support, a Natural Health Consultant, and a Reiki practitioner.

Placenta Encapsulation FAQs

  • Our certified Placenta Specialists use the Traditional Chinese Method (TCM) to process and encapsulate placentae. Two methods:

    1. Basic Heated Method - Placenta is drained of blood, gently steamed, thinly sliced, dehydrated and ground

    2. Raw - Placenta is drained of blood, sliced thinly, dehydrated and ground

    Our Placenta Specialists pick up, prepare, and ground your placenta into a fine powder, which is then carefully placed into capsules. From start to finish, our team adheres to the highest standards around Bloodborne Pathogens & Food Safety when handling your placenta and preparing your capsules. They utilize one-time disposable use items and clean, sterilized equipment exclusively used for processing placenta.

    1. Book the Placenta Encapsulation service online, which ensures our team receives accurate contact information, payment, and a booking notification. Note: Choose any date. It's not the actual service date; our team will receive your booking and begin coordinating.

    2. Review & sign the Placenta Encapsulation service agreement form, sent via email upon booking. Return signed service agreement to Debbie.

    3. Our team will assign your booking to one of our Placenta Specialists, who will remain in direct communication with you as your birthing time nears. Reach out as soon as you experience signs of early / active labor, planned induction, scheduled cesarean.

    4. After birthing your baby and placenta, your Placenta Specialist will coordinate the placenta pick-up and placenta capsules delivery.

    5. The placenta encapsulation service requires 24-48 hours to complete. If frozen, thawing requires more time before the placenta can be processed.

    6. Our Placenta Specialist will deliver the pills to you at home or birthing location, for quick turn arounds.

    Note: Inform your medical care team of your intent to encapsulate your placenta. We also encourage including placenta encapsulation and your Placenta Specialist's contact in your birth plan.

  • We encourage families to book their placenta service well in advance of their birthing time because you want to focus on birthing your baby. Ideally, families should book their service within the third trimester, as this gives our team ample time to process your request and coordinate our team.

    You can book weeks or even days before you guess date / EDD. What’s most important is having everything in place before your birthing time. Birth is spontaneous and sometimes babies arrive much sooner than expected. We recommend communicating your intentions to encapsulate with your care team and including placenta encapsulation in your birth plan.

  • Our placenta team provides placenta services for families birthing and/or residing throughout Los Angeles County. Additional travel fees may apply if pickup and/or delivery location(s) are outside of LA County.

  • A single placenta yields approximately 80-150 capsules. Inquire about pricing for encapsulating two or more placentae.

  • The birthworkers who make up our Placenta Specialist team are on-call for births, supporting birthing and/or postpartum families, or have other personal and professional commitments. Though our team may not be available to offer immediate service, here are steps you can follow to safely care for your placenta before booking:

    1. Have 2 new ziplock bags or ask your medical care team for a sterilized plastic bag

    2. Ask a family member or friend (who is not supporting the birth or early postpartum) to bring a cooler (e.g. reusable cooler, styrofoam cooler, or cooler bag)

    3. Put ice in cooler.

    4. Place the placenta in the sterilized bag. Place the bag with the placenta inside the cooler.

    5. Refrigerate up to 72 hours.

    6. Freeze up to 1 year. Note: A frozen placenta requires 24-36 hours to thaw before the encapsulation process can begin.

    • Regular drug use, alcohol use, or smoking during pregnancy

    • Exposure to heavy environmental toxins during pregnancy

    • Placenta was mishandled and stored improperly (e.g. store in a sterilized container up to 4 hours at room temperature after birth; up to 3 days on ice or in a refrigerator below 40 degrees; up to 1 year in freezer 0 degrees; encapsulate within 24-36 hours after thawing)

    • Birthing people with bloodborne infectious diseases (e.g. HIV, Hep B, Hep C)

    • Maternal infection during labor

    1. Burial ceremony -connects the child to the land, ancestors, & cultural heritage. Bury at home or in a special place. Bury in a potted plant or bury ~1 meter down in soil under a plant, bush, or tree.

    2. Lotus Birth - The placenta and umbilical cord remain attached to the child. Preserve the placenta with a herbal kit, prepared by a herbalist / birthworker. After 3-10 days, the placenta and umbilical cord detaches from child. Contact your care provider to properly discard (or see #1).

    3. Tissue Donation - Supports medical procedures. Advances medical research: placenta testing, study, and education.

    4. Artistic Expression - placenta prints, umbilical cord resin keepsake, photography, jewelry.

    5. Cord Blood Banking - collecting and storing stem cells from the child’s umbilical cord and placenta for future medical use.

Refund Policy

This service is confirmed once you have reviewed, signed, and returned the service agreement and our Placenta Specialist team has made contact with you. The amount you paid for the service is held until the service agreement is signed and returned. If you do not sign the service agreement to complete the intake process, LABP will issue you a full refund minus transactional fees.

In the event that you cancel your placenta encapsulation service or your medical care team determines that your placenta is unsuitable for encapsulation, a portion of the fee paid will be refunded to you, less the above mentioned non-refundable deposit of $150.00.

There are NO REFUNDS if you don’t alert your Placenta Specialist of your birthing time and/or communicate to coordinate pickup and/or delivery within 24 hours after birth.

Due to the nature of our business where a baby may arrive early, we will try and help you in any way we can, however the refund policy is without exception.