Your placenta will need to start chilling within 30 minutes of its arrival, so it reaches less than 8°c within 4 hours, so make sure your birth partner, attending midwife and consultant are fully aware of your wishes. Your PRN member will provide you with detailed guidelines to share with them on how to safely handle your placenta and most provide safe storage packs as part of their service.
Safe storage packs include a clean, labelled container with a new leak-proof food storage bag inside, a good quality cool bag and enough ice blocks to make up at least 10% of the volume of the cool bag.
Homebirths: transfer the container to the fridge within 30 minutes of placenta’s arrival.
Hospital Births: transfer the container to the cool bag and surround with frozen ice blocks within 30 minutes of placenta’s arrival, then transfer to a fridge within 12 hours.