Model Bella Lucia shares what she did with placenta after giving birth to her son: 'It can save his life'

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Model Belle Lucia, who gave birth last month, has revealed that she's decided to store her placenta in a cord blood bank in case her son ever gets sick.

“I’ve had a lot of questions asking what I did with my placenta ... no, I didn’t eat it,” Lucia captioned an Instagram video of her son on Wednesday. “But I did bank it so if my baby ever gets sick it can save his life.”

Lucia shared that she gave her placenta and umbilical cord to Cells4Life, which bills itself as the “UK’s largest cord blood bank.”

Belle Lucia attends White Fox Boutique Swimwear Launch. (Photo by Presley Ann/Getty Images)

“The blood is rich in stem cells which treat as many as 80+ conditions in the future (if needed) such as cancer, cerebral palsy, diabetes etc,” the model added.

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The blood left in the umbilical cord and placenta after a baby is born has “special cells” that can treat or cure some serious diseases, according to Harvard Health.

While some parents, like Lucia, choose to keep the cord blood for themselves, the American Academy of Pediatrics encourages parents to give it away to a public cord blood bank.

Lucia’s post drew mixed reactions from her more than 1 million followers. Some fans said they wish that they were able to save their placenta or umbilical cord, but it was too expensive.

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Some commenters, however, slammed the British model for storing her cord blood for personal use rather than donating to a public bank.

“A shame you didn’t use a public bank!” one person said. “Actually shown to be more effective than own-samples. This is a commonly misunderstood fact.”

Others admitted they weren’t even aware of the value of such cord blood banks.

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“Had no idea this was ‘a thing’! Fabulous!” one follower commented.

“Oh wow I swear they never told me about ‘banking’ my placenta,” another person wrote. “What a shame. Mine just went to waste then.”