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I'm not sure what to say.

Isn't it enough that you get to keep the cute little baby that was inside of it??

This is kind of gross

Um, ew.

gross.

Wow

I don't fine it gross, but a teddy bear??? What a waste of a precious resource. Encapsulating or burying under a tree I get, the rest, not so much.

I can just imagine the look on my doctor's face when I ask to take the placenta home so I can make a teddy bear! This is kinda yuck.

The bear is cute, but if you told me what it was made of I would take a step back and start making my way towards the door.

I was eating my breakfast when this post popped up...

Let's see..........how can I boost my site "hits" by a few gazillion? I know---the placenta teddy bear post!
Count me out.

vom.it.

Good God almighty.

as someone who has produced 2 placentas in my lifetime, i am thoroughly disgusted. ew. ew. ew.

truly terrible. the worst example of privileged american hippie indulgence in a long time.

I really don't know how someone would come up with this idea. Hmm...what could I turn my kids placenta into? I know, a teddy bear! Thanks but no thanks.

i saw this at inhabitots before. its still icky. it reminds me of buffalo bill or what ever from silence of the lambs or Ed Gein play toy.

Yeah I've seen this around the web a few times and I always think the same as jackied302...very Silence of the Lambs, Texas Chainsaw Massacre...etc scary creepy ew-cetera...

Not cute.

Definitely not for me.

Thanks for featuring our Inhabitots post! It's so interesting to see the wide range of reactions people have to placentas!

What the? A teddy bear? That's just creepy.
Encapsulation, I get. Burying it under a fruit tree, sure.
But, a teddy bear? Maybe creepiness was the intended purpose. Perhaps the owner gets some perverse amusement from the look on their guests faces when they inevitably ask what it's made out of? Human placenta leather teddy bear... wonder how much that would go for on ebay. lol

I can't stop laughing.

The problem with this post is how straight it's written. Please at least make fun of this practice or something instead of presenting it as another "here's a how to..." freaking post.

I think I'm gonna upchuck.

Pretty weird, I think. I've heard of planting it, etc. But it just seams so strange to have a teddy bear made of placenta. Maybe it's even weirder that it's in a glass jar. Can it ever come out (not that I'd want it to)? Or is it destined to just get creepier and creepier over time through any exposure to air in might get?

The original Inhabitots post has significantly more grossed out commenters than those who are into it. And in a vote, their readers voted overwhelmingly in favour of calling it Barftastic! (10,785) over Adorable! (748), so it looks like — based on those results and the comments here on ohdeedoh — I'm not alone!

I'm all for encapsulating and ingesting the placenta, though I do find the teddy bear itself creepy. But how on earth is this "privileged american hippie indulgence"? Repurposing something that came from your body and that would have made its way to the incinerator at any modern hospital as a "waste product" is somehow bourgeois now?

Scary. I donated mine to the police department to train cadaver search dogs. Much more useful.

just... no.

And people thought I was weird for taking a picture of mine.

blergh.

bizarre and gross. the rest of the projects in the slide show are "interesting." (you know--the kind of interesting where you draw out the word interesting until it has about 10 syllables to give yourself time to desperately try to locate the nearest exit...)

ew ew ew ew. i'm not easily grossed out. but, ew.

i'm a doctor and i'm disgusted (trust me it takes a lot)

No. No. No.

These comments are more entertaining than anything I have read in months... I am right up there with the "Wha...aaat on earth were they thinking?" Very weird... I get some folk need to grow a tree on top of it... but make a teddy bear... what else would these folks keep in their home: Artifactus too very weirdus"

Barf.

I just threw up in my mouth a little.

That's pretty much the grossest thing I've ever seen. And what's with the style of stitching? It's terrifying! Couldn't they at least try to make it look cute?

My son loves the bear we made from his placenta. I don't see what the big deal is!

Totally kidding.
This strikes me as the wasteful, not to mention the obvious creepy ick-factor.

If we count "blergh" as a bodily function, I'm the seventh poster to vomit.

PetitePlanet -

This is not my reaction to a placenta but what was done with the placenta.

maybe it has to be in a jar so the dog doesn't get it.

(btw- I am for encapsulation, planting, donating...but this is absurd).

I certainly hope that you do not wish the child to cuddle this. Absolutely ridiculous as far as I am concerned.

The placenta serves a very important purpose but when its job is over, man, just let it go.

wow. I guess to each their own.

I think it's really cool, but I also love taxidermy (and have done some myself at home).

It seems like a waste to throw out something so interesting. Your very own organ, custom made on demand for your baby and then thrust into the outside world... why not keep it and do something with it? My first placenta is still in my freezer, probably to be buried under a tree when I do some landscaping in our front yard. The second one (on the way), I'm hoping to use for prints.

I'm assuming the naysayers don't keep their wisdom teeth or locks of their children's hair? I can't quite see how a bloody tooth ripped from a mouth, or a baby tooth that has fallen out, is much less "gross" than a placenta. It was still at one point a body part and had blood on it. Is it the amount of blood that determines the ick factor? I suppose I've just never been bothered by blood... there are so many ickier bodily fluids.

What's especially nasty is that someone actually had to TOUCH said placenta in order to stitch it into a bear. *hurl!*

Now it can be your dogs chew toy... mmm

And I have to add, for any family with half a sense of humor, that placenta bear will be an heirloom for generations to come.

It's folk art at its very best. Turning an organ that grew a baby into a familiar anthropomorphic object adored by and representing babies... all I can say is: brilliant. It could be in a museum and might very well be some day. Perhaps a museum of the bizarre, but a museum nonetheless :)

Oh honeyhaze.... how can you compare a lock of hair to a placenta?!?! Don't have a go at AT'ers because they're opinions differ to yours.
I have my children's locks of hair from their first cut, I've kept their first lost tooth (which even I admit is a tad gross). I've not kept my wisdom teeth, because why? I think I'd probably have phantom pain just looking at them again.

A placenta is an organ, and I'm all for burying it under a tree or something symbolic and simple, but I have made 5 of them and have never once wanted to touch/see it again after it left me. "Thanks placenta, and goodbye". The idea of preserving it, curing it and then sewing it into a teddy-bear does NOT appeal

it just looks like if you hook it up to some wires, you could animate it like some kind of franken-organ-bear or something from a stephen king novel.

This isn't even the worst of it, people!
I just read the whole article... From the Inhabitots site,
"4. Paint Onesies and T-shirts with Placenta Blood"
And they show a scary little face painted with placenta blood on a tiny shirt.
AHHHH! I'm going to have nightmares.

Just when you think you've seen it all. I agree... This is c r e e p y, and these comments are hysterically funny...best laugh I've had all day!

I don't find it weird. I can see how other people may find it weird, but personally, it doesn't bother me. I know it seems a bit silly in the form of a teddy bear, but I see it more as being 'cherished'; something very personal and intimate..no wonder people react the way they do. Placenta teddy bear.....a dead person's ashes kept in a jar....I'd rather have the bear.

Please, no.

I can't help it; I have to say

@ abby1116, maybe you just misarticulated your comment, but the baby isn't actually in the placenta at any point.

......

Lots of cultures do things with the placenta that we (westerners) would consider "weird". Maybe this just strikes us as creepy since it has no basis in our cultural milieu, it's just someone's offbeat idea. But yeah, I'm pretty open-minded and I think it's a bit beyond the pale.

is that her pubic hair they used to sew up the teddy bear?

@akolson I didn't know you could donate it for cadaver dogs. That's pretty cool! Unfortunately, I won't have any more placentas to donate. :(

And yeah, this is icky. To each her own placenta, I guess.

This "bear" is disgusting. And a waste of something valuable. IF you are going to save and dry your placenta (and I said IF), then just have it encapsulated and take it as a vitamin supplement PP. Research shows that taking your placenta keeps your hormones levels more stable and provides you with the vitamins you need for recovery and breastfeeding.

http://thesweetest3.com/

GROAN!

Barf. But I guess it beats eating it, which is popular with some people.

I think we are all overlooking one thing here:
this is some fine stitch work!

Wow! Definately different! I am supprised that so many people are disgusted when we have no problem using leather or other animal products in inhumane ways? Harmless wacky but funny stuff!

Just creepy!

well, it's better than lasagna.

Umm. No.

Ew.

I'm a nurse, and...ew. Just ew.

At first, I thought this was from regretsy.

Ahahahaha...ha?

I love a good scary movie once in a while, but I don't want to live one out at home! ("Mommy! There's something not right about that bear...")

this is gross on so many levels its not even funny!
epic giant fail here

IT PUTS THE LOTION IN THE BASKET!!

OR IT GET'S THE HOSE!

I'm all for natural living, but EWWW. Why not donate the cord blood? It could save someone's life or provide researchers with the raw elements to create a new therapy that saves hundreds of lives.

Better than the creepy teddy bear...

Just added one more thing to my list of stuff to be freaked out by in the process of having kids!

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I was under the impression anything removed from you medically (that's obv not alive) at a hospital is required to be disposed of on site at the hospital. (eg- why kids can't take their tonsils home) Is this not the case? They just dump your placenta in a ziploc and send you on your way?

@jmorri26

I believe some hospital policies are that way. But not all babies are born in hospitals :)

If you're gonna do something with the placenta, why not something beneficial? Then again I'm not a big plush toy fan :)

You can take your placenta from a hospital if you put it on your birth plan and some require a release form. I had no problem taking mine in Maryland. And FYI, they put mine in one of those hospital-issue water pitchers and then that in a basin full of ice.

However, I agree with others that I find this incredibly wasteful and very Silence of the Lambs-like. I took mine home to be encapsulated, which I think really helped me with milk production and beating PPD, and loved that I never had to look at it in its original form. The encapsulation specialist made a tiny wreath of the umbilical cord and gave it to me in a silk pouch but for the life of me I don't know what the heck to do with it. Shadow box? Christmas ornament? People may find it grody I encapsulated but I even find it grody to decorate my home with human organs.

I love the idea of donating it to the police, a great idea if encapsulation or planting isn't your thing.

A-mazing.

This post is the funniest thing I've seen all day. The placental teddy is the second :)

You can talk about child birth and your kids' bodily functions on this site but the teddy somehow crossed a line? Opinions and feeling being what they are everyone's entitled to their own and I'm entitled to be surprised by them.

Hahahahahahahahaha!

Honestly, what next? A wall mural done in menstrual blood?

P.S. After one of my births, the nurse asked me if I wanted to see the placenta. I was like, "Why? Isn't it just a big bloody blob?" Silly me! Little did I know, it was actually a potential family heirloom!

So basically this bear is made out of placenta jerky? It might not be cuddly but it's probably a good emergency source of protein on a hike or something.

Let me chime in with another "GROSS" comment... urgh.

What in the what?

oh. my God. How did this make it to Ohdeedoh? I gave my mom a serious gross out when I sent her this. Sooo Silence of the Lambs. EW.

tasterspoon--I just spit out my coffee. Hilarious.

My opinion--I guess I just don't get it. Nothing about placentas grosses me out--all of the traditional uses seem like great ideas, as well as the more modern uses (encapsulation, donation, etc.), but I guess I just can't imagine ever doing this or owning this.

Hope you got the hits you wanted! Otherwise, this is just disgusting.

That's yucky--just plain gross.

My lord no.

How cuddly!

If you happen to be Wednesday Addams.

I just gave birth to my 3rd child a week ago. Because I gave birth at home we had to figure out what to do with the placenta. Our midwife gave us a little "tour" of the placenta as she examined it, then we double bagged it and stuck it in the freezer until garbage/green bin day. While I didn't find it the least bit gross, I had no desire to eat it or use it in a craft project.

I rememeber about 15 years ago my daughter told me her best friend's mother had saved her placentas in the freezer and it totally grossed me out. But "Oh My God" to eat it. Sorry, but I place myself a step above on that evolutionary ladder. This has a creep factor of ten. I got plenty of things coming out of my body every day that I don't care to look at or save for future reference, thank-you.

I love the comment about painting with menstrual blood... Not everything that comes from our body needs to be saved or reused. This is probably the most disgusting thing I have ever seen. I understand people being interested in animal taxidermy but that is a human organ. Yuck! Very Silence of the Lambs. Sorry, there is absolutely nothing normal about that. If someone tells me to encapsulate it for health then that is one thing.... but I hardly think that you could compare it to someone's ashes being in a jar. The grossest part isn't saving it, it's sewing it into a bear that you have to look at.

best white elephant gift ever

Oh my God totally, Lafferteezy. I so agree. To each their own, etc. but this is totally batsh*t crazy. Maybe I should save my toenail clippings and used q-tips and offer them up to the goddess. I didn't save my placenta, which some of my crunchier friends have been shocked at. They buried, they froze, they ate in a smoothie, etc. The doctor asked and I was like, oh huh? Please dispose of it as I have a lovely little baby whom I want to focus my attention on now, please and thank you. I will not be needing to turn the umbilical cord into earrings either, but thanks for asking.

I can see why it is in a jar, i had children at home and i found the smell overpowering,after all..it housed a little person and all their waste. I simply wasn't "into" the possibilities.

I do find the bear clever just like the doll i saw that some parent made and placed baby teeth in.

I'm trying to be positive here..it has a kind of "Buffalo Bill" (ala Silence of the Lambs ) feel.