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Eating the placenta. It's not for everyone, which is why an increasing number of moms have opted to take "placenta pills," wherein the afterbirth is encapsulated and popped daily by postpartum moms for a little pick-me-up. But new research is warning this growing trend may not be the best thing for new moms -- or their babies.
Scientists working for the CDC warn the popular pills, which are said to help ward off postpartum depression, have actually caused an illness in the child of one mom in Portland, Oregon.
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Born healthy, the baby was brought into an ER at 5 days old, with irritability, and tests were done. Docs eventually determined that the baby had late-onset group B Streptococcus agalactiae (GBS), which they traced back to the maker of Mom's placenta pills.
The problem? Researchers say the process of encapsulating the placenta does not "eradicate infectious pathogen," which means that those pills a mom is swallowing may contain diseases. That's bad enough for moms, but if a mom is breastfeeding while popping placenta pills, it stands to reason that said disease could then pass to the baby.
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So far the CDC studies focus their solutions on doctors, rather than moms, and encourage them to ask mothers about what they may have ingested if an infant presents with a case of late-onset GBS infection. They also encourage educating mothers interested in placenta encapsulation about the potential risks of the process.
Countless parents have reported that they found benefits from eating their placenta. Among them are women like Real Housewives star Kim Zolciak, who sucked down a placenta smoothie, and Girls star Gabby Hoffmann.
But for moms who are debating whether or not to get their placenta encapsulated, this piece from the CDC findings may stand out: "No standards exist for processing placenta for consumption."
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