What Does Burying a Placenta Do?

The Ibo of Nigeria and Ghana treat the placenta as the dead twin of the live child and give it full burial rites. Filipina mothers are known to bury the placenta with books, in hopes of a smart child. Other cultures place a symbol of their people with the placenta when burying it, as a kind of heritage insurance.

What do hospitals do with placenta after birth?

Hospitals treat placentas as medical waste or biohazard material. The newborn placenta is placed in a biohazard bag for storage. Some hospitals keep the placenta for a period of time in case the need arises to send it to pathology for further analysis.

What do Africans do with the placenta?

In Ghana and among the Ibo of Nigeria, the placenta is treated as the dead twin of the live baby and given full burial rites. The Seri, a North American Indian tribe, bury it under a tree which is then revered by the child throughout its life.