Is Eating Placenta The Cure For Depressed Moms?

Anti-depressants or a healthy baby? Do we really have to choose? New mommies are being diagnosed with depression, anxiety, and extreme stress after conception, but many are choosing to simply deal due to possible risks for their unborn little joys.

Tons of studies have been completed testing a possible link to different types of anti-depressants throughout different terms of the pregnancy, but most of the findings are inconclusive or not valid enough to truly be considered. 

Many women are concerned that they will have only themselves to blame later on in life if their child winds up acquiring a disease caused by the medication. I might agree with this issue if the evidence was clear and resounding. But it isn’t. There is much evidence that alludes to the danger, but is then unconfirmed: “Taking Paxil in the first trimester of pregnancy has been found to increase the risk of certain heart defects in babies by 1 percent above the natural risk. But later studies were unable to confirm the link.”

Other studies have shown that leaving the depression alone can do harm as well and the research is beginning to show that “untreated depression and anxiety also have potentially deleterious effects on the child, including a risk for preterm birth.”

So now women being faced with depression or anxiety barely have a choice. They can go through their pregnancy unmedicated, hating life and having post-partum depression and possible birth complications or take the meds and wait and see what happens. If a decision had to be made for me, I know which side I would take.

A long time sufferer of anxiety and depression, I have been on the drug Lexapro for quite some time now.  I could go on for hours about the ways my life has changed since starting it, but who am I to talk about pregnancy and anti-depressants?

All I know is that before starting the drug, I felt alone, like the world was a lot darker, and like every hour or so I was going to have an unbearable panic attack. Now, happily medicated, I can count on one hand the amount of times I’ve had an anxiety attack in three years. Having this knowledge, it terrifies me to think that new mothers are being faced with emotions such as my own before medication — while they’re growing a child and are soon-to-be mothers. If the anxiety and depression don’t ruin them before the birth, I cannot imagine what the immediate post-partum emotions could be like.

Even for healthy women who’ve experienced barely any depression throughout their pregnancies, post-partum depression can hit them at any point within the first year of birth. Kathryn Hirst, director of the Maternal Mental Health Clinic at the University of California, San Diego says, “Studies have linked postpartum depression to behavioral problems and depressive symptoms in the children later in life.”

If unmedicated or treated throughout this delicate period, the negative possibilities are endless.

Luckily, there are new alternative treatments for coping with post-partum depression that have potential to take away this whole dilemma—if new mommies are willing to consume the placenta after birth.

A new age idea, women are now encapsulating the placenta from their child’s birth and consuming the stuff. Sounds gross, but is actually proven to work for post-partum symptoms and even PMS!

“Through the consumption of the placenta, a woman is able to restore and replenish her body from what was lost during childbirth. It is an all-natural way to for women to cope with postpartum depression and encourages an abundant milk supply.”

So, what’s the final decision? Do pregnant women stay drug-free while pregnant and have consuming placenta to look forward to or facing post-partum depression? Or do they stay on the meds, possibly unsure of the outcome? Coming into this story, I was positive on my adherence to the side of “pro-meds” but now, with the revelation of placenta-consumption, it seems that it may be the safest choice if it really does as it is reported. An odd option, but it may wind up being the best of all. 

Consume the womb or take a pill a day, with potential risk. Your choice.

Contact the author here: crazycolleen@morningquickie.com