Hilary Duff has opened up about how she ate her placenta after giving birth to her second child last month.
Giving birth is one of the most natural things in the world and I’m told bringing a baby into the world is a precious experience that can’t be beaten.
Well, if you’re willing to forget the hours of screaming, pain and uncertainty, that is. And once the labour is over, you get to take away the best souvenir possible in the form of a newborn baby.
But sometimes new mothers get the option of a different kind of souvenir in the form of their placenta.
Which is exactly what actor Hilary Duff opted to do after giving birth on October 25 to a baby girl, with partner Matthew Koma.
The little girl, Banks Violet Bair, is the couple’s first child together, with Duff having a 6-year-old son from her previous marriage.
Five days after giving birth, the pair took to Instagram to share with their follower’s their joyous news:
The picture showed the happy couple gazing adoringly at Banks, with Hilary holding her while Matthew reaches around her, embracing them both.
Duff captioned the image:
Banks Violet Bair. This little bit has fully stolen our hearts! She joined our world at home on Thursday afternoon and is absolute magic.
In the weeks since the birth, the little family have been enjoying getting to know their newest addition. But Hilary managed to take time out of her busy schedule to talk to Dr Elliot Berlin on his show, the Dr. Berlin Informed Pregnancy podcast.
The pair spoke about the Lizzie Maguire star’s pregnancy, her birth and in particular the moments after her birth, when Hilary spoke openly about her decision to eat her placenta.
She informed listeners that she had consumed the organ in smoothie form, mixed with other fruits. She stated it was the ‘most delightful smoothie I’ve ever had.’
She went on to say:
I haven’t had a smoothie that delightful since I was, like, 10 years old. It was calorie-filled with juice and fruit and everything delicious. It was good. I was a little wigged out at first, to be honest.
So much so that she decided to keep the rest of her placenta and made it into ice cubes, so that she could continue to eat it.
And Hilary isn’t the only celebrity mum to eat her placenta. The one and only Kim Kardashian opened up about eating her placenta back in 2015 after giving birth to son Saint.
According to Parents, she wrote on her blog that she consumed the organ in pill-form.
She wrote:
So, I’m really not this holistic person or someone who would have ever considered eating my placenta. And when I say ‘eat my placenta,’ I mean that I’m having it freeze-dried and made into a pill form—not actually fry it like a steak and eat it (which some people do, BTW).
She went on to explain her reasoning behind the decision:
I heard so many stories when I was pregnant with North of moms who never ate their placenta with their first baby and then had postpartum depression, but then when they took the pills with their second baby, they did not suffer from depression!
Each to their own I guess!
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A Broadcast Journalism Masters graduate who went on to achieve an NCTJ level 3 Diploma in Journalism, Lucy has done stints at ITV, BBC Inside Out and Key 103. While working as a journalist for UNILAD, Lucy has reported on breaking news stories while also writing features about mental health, cervical screening awareness, and Little Mix (who she is unapologetically obsessed with).