Becoming a Vermont Placenta Encapsulationist
Tara Carpenter, CPES.
Bringing hormonal support to new mothers in Vermont since 2011.
Growing up, my mother ran a home day-care since I was 2 years old and later opened Harborside Montessori. Babies filled my life! I loved to walk around our neighborhood and find pink or blue balloons tied to neighbor’s mailbox, announcing a new baby’s arrival. I’d give them a “mothers helper” business card. I was 5 when I started this and charged .25 cents/hour 🙂
When I was 6 and 9 years old, I watched my little sister and then brother be born at home. I will always remember the relaxed feel around the dining room table with a puzzle; the midwives and my grandma passing by to fit a piece together. A birthday cake baking in oven, the sounds of birth. My job was to catch the baby and cut the umbilical cord. My world changed forever, and I am still in love with babies and how hard mothers work.
I knew my life work would involve mothers and babies.
I dreamt of being a midwife and instead became a birth and postpartum doula because the hours were more conducive to being a mother myself. My pregnancies were affected by a rare prenatal condition, hyperemesis gravidarum, that had me in bed unable to read, drive, or eat. Thankfully, my births were amazing, and I’d give birth a thousand times over 🙂 Yet my postpartum was challenged with anemia, fatigue, and lack of appetite.
I was intrigued by placenta encapsulation.
I learnt about placenta encapsulation in 2009 and wished I’d done this after my own births. I think the boost in health and energy would have been appreciated and given me more confidence and grace in the postpartum. I researched where I lived in Vermont and found only one other Encapsulator offering encapsulation; I saw a need and took the appropriate trainings in traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) and bloodborne food safety and began to offer this service in 2011 to support new mothers with natural hormones and nutrients in her placenta💜
I prepare capsules with a traditional Chinese medicine method that is FDA-approved and comes in plain or grape flavored capsules. You can read further about my process here.
Benefits:
- Balanced hormones
- More energy
- More breast milk supply
- Less pain from stitches or c-section surgery
- Less risk of anemia
- Less “baby blues” or PPD
- Less anxiety and irritability
Placenta capsules, prepared with TCM-method, makes sense.
My love for new mothers and babies saddles up to my love for traditional foods …. placenta being a nutrient and hormone dense food that is revered as nutritionally superior and one that every mammal, except whales and kangaroos, ingest after giving birth. In China, mothers are sent home with her placenta from leaves the hospital and her mother or sister is expected to prepare this for her to consume. Here in Vermont, I do this job.
The placenta is known for replenishing a woman‘s hormonal and nutritional needs after the laborious work of growing baby, giving birth, and healing. The capsules are shown to tonify uterus, reduce bleeding, and bring the mother into a place of feeling centered and vitalized.
Many moms lovingly refer to capsules as “chill pills”.
Over the years in my role as a Certified Placenta Encapsulationist I am convinced of the power of the placenta and enjoy hearing feedback from my clients (and getting notified that a baby has been born!). I am honored to support new mothers throughout Vermont💜
