Afterbirth & Crafts: Make a Placenta Teddy Bear in Three Easy Steps!

This is NOT your mother’s teddy bear.  Oh wait — yes, it is!  A bear made out of your mother, that is.

According to London-based designer Alex Green, the placenta teddy bear is “a crafty alternative for those who don’t necessarily want to eat their baby’s placenta (remember the yummy-looking placenta panini?), but want to pay their respects to the life-sustaining organ,” by saving it in teddy form.

Also: a delicious chew toy for your pup.

Green claims he was motivated to make the bears to shake up how people think of placenta. “I was very interested in how it was discarded unceremoniously as medical waste, why it’s discarded and how we could bring it back…” said Green, who thought placentas deserved a symbolic treatment whether they’re saved or not. “It was really about provoking a debate about placentas and how we treat them.”

And now I’m sure you’re wondering: How in the world do I MAKE one of these cuddly suckers? So glad you asked!

Just grab that placenta, cut it in half and rub with sea salt — Yes, just like a good roast beef! — to cure it.  After it is dried out, the afterbirth is treated with an emulsifying mixture of tannin and egg yolk to make it soft and pliable. Then, ta-da!  You craft it into a teddy bear.

Instead of Build-a-Bear, you Birth-a-Bear!