Placenta Pills and Milk Supply
Key Takeaways
📌 1. Placenta encapsulation does NOT negatively affect milk supply. What does impact milk supply are stress, exhaustion, misinformation, and lack of support—not placenta pills.
📌 2. Placenta pills contain hormones that SUPPORT lactation. Oxytocin and prolactin play a direct role in milk letdown and production.
📌 3. Postpartum anxiety and depression are linked to hormonal crashes. Placenta encapsulation helps stabilize estrogen, progesterone, and CRH, which helps keep those mood swings in check, which helps lessen and postpartum mental health struggles.
📌 4. South Jersey moms should plan ahead for postpartum support. Having a comprehensive postpartum plan, a knowledgeable IBCLC, and a postpartum support system set up before birth can make a huge difference in your recovery.
👉 Want to prepare for postpartum the right way? Take my free Postpartum Anxiety Risk Assessment.
If you’ve ever Googled “placenta encapsulation breastfeeding,” “placenta pills milk supply,” or “does placenta encapsulation help with breastfeeding,” you’ve probably seen a mix of conflicting opinions.
One that might’ve stopped you in your tracks: “My lactation consultant told me to wait a few weeks before taking placenta pills because they could interfere with milk production.”
Excuse me, what? Mind. Blown.
This kind of advice is not only wrong but actually harmful. There’s zero solid scientific evidence that delaying placenta encapsulation does anything beneficial for milk supply. But you know what it does do? It robs new moms of the immediate benefits—hormone stabilization, more energy, and better emotional well-being during those critical early weeks. On top of that, it leads them to waste their money. Placenta consumption is most effective during the immediate postpartum period. Moms deserve real facts, not fear-mongering.
So, What Does the Science Actually Say?
Placenta consumption isn’t a some kind of witchy fad—humans (and most other mammals) have been doing it forever. Some of the benefits of placenta encapsulation include hormone regulation, postpartum recovery, and energy replenishment.
Your placenta is packed with postpartum-supporting hormones, including:
✔ Estrogen & Progesterone – Helps regulate emotions and balance postpartum hormones.
✔ Corticotropin-Releasing Hormone (CRH) – Supports stress management and is linked to reducing postpartum depression risk.
✔ Prolactin – The hormone responsible for milk production.
✔ Oxytocin – The “love hormone” that promotes bonding, emotional regulation, and milk letdown.
✔ Iron – Essential for energy, postpartum recovery, and preventing anemia.
After birth, estrogen and progesterone levels plummet—that’s a huge reason postpartum moms feel like an emotional wreck. Once the placenta detaches from the uterine wall, all hell breaks loose hormonally. Your hypothalamus (which usually regulates hormones) is basically on a coffee break, taking a few weeks to get the memo that it needs to get back to work. So in the meantime, nothing is really regulating your hormones. Placenta encapsulation helps bridge that gap while your body recalibrates.
Low Milk Supply
Most of the fear around placenta pills hurting milk supply comes from a single 2017 pilot study by Young et al. This study looked at hormone levels in a tiny sample group and made vague suggestions about possible effects. But:
✔ The sample size was too small to draw real conclusions. ✔ The study found only minor hormonal changes, with no substantial clinical impact. ✔ The majority of women in the study reported zero breastfeeding issues. ✔ Tens of thousands of years of anecdotal evidence say otherwise.
For real, if placenta consumption negatively affected milk supply, mammals—including humans—would’ve evolved differently.
In fact, an older study from 1954 by Soykova-Pachnerova reported that 86% of women consuming their placenta saw an increase in milk production.
Placenta Pills Aren’t Magic (And You Don’t Need a Magic Fix for Milk Supply)
I mean, I’m not going to sit here and say that placenta capsules will magically make you produce milk. But you don’t need some overpriced lactation cookie, a million supplements, or stashes of formula “just in case.”
You are a mammal. Mammals make milk. That’s literally what your boobs are for.
The “not making enough milk” panic is largely manufactured. Sure, some women have legitimate medical reasons for low supply, but for most, the real problems come from bad advice, unnecessary interventions, and a society that sets moms up to fail.
Instead of obsessing over whether you’re producing “enough,” let’s focus on what actually supports breastfeeding success: feeding on demand, co-sleeping, lowering stress, prioritizing rest, and trusting your body.
What Actually Affects Milk Supply?
1️⃣ Stress and exhaustion – The real milk-supply killer. Since placenta pills help regulate stress hormones, they actually support better breastfeeding.
2️⃣ Lack of solid breastfeeding support – Every mom hears conflicting advice about breastfeeding. (If you hire me for encapsulation, I’m always there to provide evidence-based guidance when you need it.)
3️⃣ Iron deficiency – Low iron directly correlates to low milk supply. Placenta capsules replenish bioavailable iron and can help prevent postpartum anemia.
4️⃣ Misinformation – If placenta consumption caused milk supply issues, mammals would be struggling across the board. But guess what? It’s only humans—who don’t typically eat their placentas—who have this problem. Hmmm…
Placenta Pills and Postpartum Anxiety
If you’ve got prenatal anxiety, ADHD, or a history of depression, you’re already at higher risk for postpartum mood struggles. The hormonal free-fall after birth can trigger everything from anxiety and intrusive thoughts to full-blown postpartum depression (PPD).
Placenta pills contain estrogen, progesterone, and CRH—all of which help stabilize mood and lower the intensity of postpartum anxiety and depression. That’s why placenta encapsulation is an important tool for moms who already know they’re prone to postpartum mental health challenges.
Prepping for Postpartum as a South Jersey Mom
If you’re pregnant in South Jersey and thinking about placenta encapsulation, here’s how to get started:
✔ Learn your options – Availability is limited, so let’s set you up with a placenta transport kit before your due date. ✔ Plan ahead for postpartum anxiety – Take my Postpartum Anxiety Risk Assessment to figure out your risk factors and get ahead of them. ✔ Find an IBCLC who knows their stuff – Not all lactation consultants understand placenta encapsulation. Make sure yours is informed. ✔ Prioritize postpartum support – Breastfeeding success is about way more than milk supply. You need the right support system, solid information, and the confidence to trust your own body.
The Bottom Line
There’s zero legitimate evidence that placenta encapsulation harms milk supply. On the flip side, there’s plenty of biological reasoning, anecdotal experience, and research that suggests placenta pills actually support postpartum recovery, hormone balance, and stress reduction—all of which set you up for better breastfeeding success.
You don’t need placenta pills to make milk. But if you want to recover faster, stabilize your mood, and give yourself a better shot at stress-free breastfeeding, placenta encapsulation is an awesome tool to have in your postpartum arsenal.
Want to book your encapsulation? Click here for info.
