Most expecting parents spend the third trimester thinking about the baby: the nursery, the car seat, the hospital bag. Far fewer stop to ask what happens to the placenta, the organ that kept their baby alive for nine months. In most hospitals the answer is simple. It's discarded. But the placenta is also a rich source of stem cells, and more families are choosing to preserve it instead of letting it go to waste.
What Happens to the Placenta After Birth?
Shortly after your baby is born, your body delivers the placenta in what's medically known as the third stage of labor. After that, one of three things usually happens. The hospital disposes of it as medical waste. It goes to pathology for examination if there were complications. Or, if you arranged it in advance, a sample is collected and sent for banking. Which path it takes is largely up to you, as long as you decide before delivery day.
How Is the Placenta Delivered? (The Third Stage of Labor)
After your baby is born, your uterus keeps contracting, usually more mildly than during active labor. These contractions separate the placenta from the uterine wall and move it out, typically within five to thirty minutes of birth.
Many care teams use "active management" of this stage. That means a medication to help the uterus contract, plus gentle, controlled traction on the umbilical cord once the placenta has separated. A 2019 Cochrane systematic review found that active management is more effective than waiting for the placenta to deliver on its own at reducing the risk of postpartum hemorrhage. If you plan to bank, collection fits around this routine and doesn't change your care. Your medical team's priorities always come first.
What Do Hospitals Typically Do With the Placenta?
Unless you request otherwise, most hospitals treat the placenta as medical waste and dispose of it under standard biohazard protocols. If there were complications, such as unexplained bleeding, signs of infection or concerns about fetal growth, your care team may send it to pathology first. Policies vary by hospital and state, so ask your provider about theirs well before your due date.
What Is Placenta Banking?
Placenta banking means collecting placental tissue after delivery, processing it, and cryopreserving it for possible future use. It's done alongside, or in addition to, cord blood and cord tissue banking, and it uses tissue that would otherwise be thrown away.
The placenta is of interest to researchers because it contains several types of cells, including mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs). MSCs can develop into specialized cell types such as bone, cartilage and fat, and they're being studied for their role in tissue repair and immune regulation. The placenta also contains other cell populations researchers are studying, including cells from the amniotic membrane that lines the placenta.
Here's what's established and what isn't. Cord blood stem cells are an approved treatment for a range of blood and immune disorders today. Uses of placental and cord tissue stem cells are still investigational, meaning they're being studied in clinical trials and aren't yet standard treatment. Families who bank placental tissue are preserving an option for therapies that may develop over their child's lifetime. It's not a guarantee of a specific treatment.
How Placenta Banking Works
The process is simple, and it doesn't involve your baby at all:
- Enroll before birth. Ideally in your second or third trimester, so you receive your collection kit well ahead of your due date.
- Tell your care team. Add banking to your birth plan and bring the kit to the hospital. Your provider or a trained collector takes the sample after the placenta is delivered.
- Shipping and processing. The kit is sent by medical courier to an accredited laboratory, where the tissue is processed and cryopreserved.
- Long-term storage. The sample is stored in liquid nitrogen at ultra-low temperatures, where it can remain viable for many years.
Collection happens after your baby and the placenta have been delivered, so it doesn't interfere with delivery, delayed cord clamping or skin-to-skin time.
Placenta, Cord Blood and Cord Tissue: How They Fit Together
Birth gives you three related banking options, each with a different profile of stem cells:
- Cord blood: rich in hematopoietic (blood-forming) stem cells, used today in established treatments for certain blood and immune conditions.
- Cord tissue: the umbilical cord itself, a source of mesenchymal stem cells.
- Placental tissue: another source of mesenchymal and other stem cell types, which adds to what you've preserved.
Some families bank cord blood only. Others bank all three to keep the widest range of cell types. We've written a full breakdown of how cord blood and cord tissue banking compare, including what's clinically established versus still investigational. If you're also thinking about delayed cord clamping, it's worth planning both decisions together, since they concern the same moments after delivery.
Most importantly, this is a one-time opportunity. Once the placenta is discarded, it can't be recovered.
Frequently Asked Questions
What happens to the placenta after birth?
It's delivered within about five to thirty minutes of your baby. Most hospitals then dispose of it as medical waste, unless it's sent to pathology or you've arranged to bank it.
What is placenta banking?
It's the collection and cryopreservation of placental tissue at birth, so the stem cells it contains are preserved for possible future medical use.
What stem cells are in the placenta?
The placenta contains mesenchymal stem cells and other cell types, including cells from the amniotic membrane. Their therapeutic uses are being studied in clinical trials and are still investigational.
Is placenta banking safe for my baby and me?
Yes. Collection happens after both your baby and the placenta have been delivered, and it doesn't change your medical care or your baby's.
When do I need to decide?
Before birth, ideally by your third trimester, so your kit arrives in time and your care team knows your plan.
Can I bank the placenta along with cord blood and cord tissue?
Yes. Many families bank all three at once, since they're collected at the same delivery.
Preserve What Birth Offers, Only Once
The placenta is usually discarded within minutes of delivery. With a little planning, you can choose to preserve it, along with your baby's cord blood and cord tissue, as part of your family's long-term health plan.
