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​​What Is the Placenta and What Does It Do?

Women,Pregnancy and Childbirth,Prevention and Wellness,Staying Healthy,Most Recent

August 03, 2021

When you become pregnant, you not only grow a baby — you also grow a new internal organ. The placenta, which is crucial to both your baby’s development and your own metabolic health during pregnancy, forms and attaches to the uterine wall at fertilization. 

Role of the Placenta 

The placenta is a complex organ consisting of a thick membrane and blood vessels that connect mother to baby via the umbilical cord. For the fetus, the placenta acts as a filter, delivering oxygen, glucose and other nutrients. It blocks out potentially harmful substances and removes carbon dioxide and waste from the baby’s blood. For the mother, the placenta produces the hormones lactogen, estrogen and progesterone needed to establish the ideal physiological environment for the baby’s development. Here’s how it develops: 

• First trimester: The placenta’s growth will mirror the embryo’s, beginning as a few cells then growing to weigh close to a pound.

• Second trimester: By this point, the placenta will be fully formed and identifiable on ultrasound imaging tests used to monitor your baby’s growth.

• After delivery: Immediately after the baby is born, the body naturally expels the placenta (often called the ‘third stage of labor’) as its job is now complete. With C-section births, the doctor will manually help remove the placenta.

Potential Complications

In most instances, the placenta will develop normally, but there are rare situations during which complications occur. These include: 

•  Placenta accreta — The placenta imbeds itself too deeply or firmly into the mother’s uterine wall and could lead to hemorrhaging during or after delivery. Other more invasive forms of this problem include placenta increta, an even deeper growth, and placenta percreta, where the placenta grows through the uterine wall and attaches to other organs.

•  Placenta abruption — The placenta disconnects from the womb before delivery. This can cause pain and/or bleeding and affect the level of oxygen and nutrients the baby is receiving. You might have to deliver early.

• Placental insufficiency — The placenta does not operate properly, depriving the baby of oxygen and nutrients, which affects its growth.

• Placenta previa — The placenta remains low in the uterus, partially or totally blocking the cervix, inhibiting the baby’s exit. This condition often requires a cesarean birth. 

5 Ways To Keep Your Placenta Healthy 

There are simple steps you can take to help this vital organ operate at peak efficiency throughout your pregnancy.

1. Keep all your prenatal care appointments with your obstetrician. The health of your placenta is traced through the health of your baby and easily monitored through regular visits and ultrasound testing.

2. Provide a complete health history to your doctor. Potential complications can be avoided or controlled if identified early on. High-risk conditions include the mother’s genetic history, other illnesses such as diabetes or high blood pressure, and previous surgeries.

3. Avoid drinking, smoking and high-contact sports that might cause trauma to the uterus. The placenta cannot filter out alcohol, nicotine and many medications.

4. Eat healthy during your pregnancy. Iron supports your placenta’s wellness.

5. Take precautions to avoid viral infections. The Zika virus is particularly dangerous to the placenta and has been linked to birth defects. COVID-19’s long-term effects on pregnancy are still being researched, but recent tests prove the available vaccines do not appear to cause any damage to the placenta and can help protect both mother and baby from infection and illness.

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What is the placenta and why is it needed: 10 interesting facts

1

The placenta works like a gland - it produces hormones that are important for bearing a child and for establishing lactation. This organ produces, among others, the following substances: human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG), a hormone responsible for the successful start of pregnancy; placental lactogen, which also helps prepare the breast for lactation; progesterone and estrogen.

2

The placenta begins to form at the same time as the baby, it nourishes and protects it. Blood from the mother's body carries oxygen and nutrients to the placenta, which reach the fetus through the umbilical cord. That is, it performs the functions of several organs at once, which are necessary for the development of the child. The placenta does not allow the blood of the mother and the unborn child to mix, despite the fact that both of these blood circulate in it.

3

About 500 milliliters of blood is sent to the placenta every minute. This happens even when the woman is sleeping. nine0003

4

Placenta - female organ. But both female and male cells take part in its formation. Which is not surprising, because without them the fertilization of the egg is impossible, and hence the process of the formation of the placenta.

5

The placenta performs its functions without connection with the woman's nervous system. It does not contain nerve cells, therefore it does not obey either the spinal cord or the brain. However, she works! Miracles!

6

The placenta is the only disposable organ that can develop in the human body. Yes, we can live without some organs after surgery, but the placenta is designed to be used only once per pregnancy. As soon as the child is born, the need for it disappears.

7

As soon as the placenta leaves the mother's body, it starts the process of producing breast milk. During pregnancy, prolactin, which is necessary for lactation, is also produced, however, a large amount of progesterone and estrogen produced by the placenta suppress the breastfeeding hormone. The birth of the placenta allows you to drastically reduce the amount of progesterone and estrogen and put prolactin into action. nine0003

8

The average weight of the placenta at 36-40 weeks of gestation is 519 grams.

9

There is a phenomenon called placentophagy, that is, eating the placenta (and this is common not only among animals, but also among people). Some argue that it helps reduce the risk of postpartum depression, improve the lactation process, but these theses have not yet been scientifically confirmed and are advised to refrain from adding it to food. Experts believe that all the wonderful properties of the placenta can be attributed to the placebo effect. As for the nutritional composition of the placenta, it is known that it contains proteins and fats, but ordinary food also contains them. nine0003

10

As a rule, the placenta is located on the back wall of the uterus - so it is more reliably protected from possible injuries. There is a pathological condition called placenta previa. This is such a position of the organ in the lower parts of the uterus, when the area of ​​\u200b\u200bthe internal pharynx is partially or completely blocked. This can lead to bleeding and the threat of termination of pregnancy, therefore, it requires careful monitoring by specialists. Complete placenta previa is an absolute indication for caesarean section. With partial presentation and in the absence of concomitant complications, natural childbirth is possible, but the risks of an emergency caesarean in this case are very high. nine0003

What to do with the placenta? 10 uses

The placenta (baby place, afterbirth, storage) is a unique organ. It appears only for 8-9 months to provide the unborn child with oxygen and all the necessary nutrients, but after the third stage of labor it becomes unnecessary. What can be done with the placenta after the doctor examined it and said that everything is in order? There are at least 10 options, and each has its supporters.

Eat. This is exactly what female placental mammals do after giving birth, even herbivores. After all, the afterbirth contains many valuable nutrients, and after giving birth in the wild, you need to restore strength as soon as possible in order to be able to run and get food again.

Women still do this too, especially in parts of Asia. Some experts recommend eating the placenta for the prevention of postpartum depression and anemia. However, in our time, placentophagy has acquired many exotic forms: since it is rather problematic for a civilized person to simply eat a raw afterbirth, as in the wild, the placenta is either heat-treated, like ordinary meat, or smoothies are prepared, or encapsulated. To do this, the placenta must be steam-dried, turned into powder, and then taken in the form of capsules. Of course, only those who have the appropriate technical capabilities resort to such methods. However, you should be aware of the risks: the placenta contains hormones, is not sterile, and may even be infected. nine0003

Bury. In our climatic latitudes, the placenta was most often buried in the ground. This could be accompanied by rituals: the placenta was washed, sprinkled with fragrant herbs, spices, put in an embroidered bag (they could cover it with a layer of wet clay and dry it so that it would not become food for wild animals), and only then they put it in a specially prepared hole - under the house, in a wasteland but most often under a tree. If a girl was born, the placenta was buried under a "female" tree - for example, an apple tree. If the family was replenished with a boy, the children's place was buried under a maple or oak tree so that the guy would grow up strong and powerful. Nowadays, the placenta can be buried under the so-called "family tree" to ensure the baby's health and well-being, or they can simply be buried in a flower bed - they say, this is how flowers grow better. nine0003

Bury. In some countries (particularly on the island of Bali), it is customary not just to bury the placenta, but to ritually hide it in a cemetery, believing that it is a living being.

Make a decoration. The placenta looks good in epoxy, so some women order a pendant, bracelet, ring or necklace from their own placenta from jewelers. Such decoration should symbolize the bond between mother and child. nine0003

Dry for memory. Dried placentas are sometimes used in art compositions or sewn into toys.

Sell. Cosmetics made using the placenta - creams, gels, serums, shampoos, etc. are very popular on the market. Especially effective are products with a placenta in anti-aging cosmetology - because in this way you can stimulate the appearance of new cells, as well as activate the production of collagen and elastin, and the skin becomes more elastic. Therefore, some women sell their afterbirth. Although, of course, you won’t earn a lot of money this way. nine0003

Use in homemade skin cream. However, a cream that will help heal the skin, reduce scars and stretch marks, and even heal sore or cracked nipples is even made independently. To do this, placenta powder is added to other components.

Dispose of. In Ukraine, this is the most common scenario for the development of events. Maternity hospitals are guided by a protocol for handling biowaste: after the completion of the third stage of labor, the placenta is examined and sent for freezing in a special chamber. When it is full, the placentas are taken for disposal - more often they are buried, less often they are burned. nine0003

Deposit in the cryobank. Today, the placenta - like cord blood - is used to isolate the most valuable mesenchymal stem cells. Even now, stem cells are successfully used for the treatment of various diseases and in cosmetology, this area is rightly called "medicine of the XXI century." Therefore, such a “contribution” can be a very profitable investment in the health of the child and the longevity of the parents. Interestingly, stem cells are obtained from a smaller part of the placenta, from the amnion and chorion, which are genetically related to the child. The remains of the placenta can be used as the family decides, because everyone has their own opinion and traditions of the family.

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