Placentophagy: self-trust and embodied entanglements in Czech society

This qualitative study examines placentophagy-the consumption of one's own placenta after birth-among women in Czechia, where the practice is increasingly visible despite lacking cultural tradition or expert consensus. Drawing on 18 semistructured interviews, we explore interlocutors' motivations, perspectives and the broader discursive context. Interlocutors described placentophagy as a practice of care, oriented towards physical and emotional recovery and grounded in self-trust, bodily autonomy and a sense of connection with nature. Their accounts resonate with ecological thinking and a monistic worldview that positions humans and nature as interconnected, while also reflecting ambivalent or strained relations with specialised biomedical authority. The study illustrates how the placenta acquires multiple and shifting identities-as waste, therapeutic tool and symbol of entanglement or ritual object. Foregrounding these perspectives highlights placentophagy as more than a marginal or curious practice: it offers insight into negotiations of health, agency and trust in contemporary obstetric care. By attending to women's lived experience, the study contributes to debates about how biomedical and experiential frameworks might be placed in dialogue rather than opposition.