A new mother wants medical staff to be better educated about First Nations culture after her placenta was discarded following the birth of her daughter.
Sydney nurse and Wiradjuri woman Jami Seale had her baby Lily via an emergency caesarean section last year.
Ms Seale said when she came out of recovery she was told her placenta had been put in the clinical waste bin against her wishes.
"In Aboriginal culture, we do a ceremony of burying the placenta," Ms Seale said.
Ms Seale and her partner Tom had planned to take the placenta home and freeze it.
"We were going to bury it somewhere special that would spiritually connect her to my nanna, who's passed away now," she said.
Ms Seale said when she inquired about what had happened a midwife eventually retrieved her placenta from the bin.
"As a nurse, I know what goes in those bins," she said.
"So I just looked at it and I just felt really disrespected that it had just been so carelessly thrown in the bin."
Ms Seale decided not to take her placenta home and said she was devastated.
"I've literally just given birth and then finding that out and then having this brand new baby on me, it was just all too much."
'Extra cultural training needed'
Ms Seale said the incident highlighted the importance of more cultural training for hospital staff.
It's a view shared by advocates for culturally safe maternity care, including Gold Coast University Hospital midwife Cassandra Nest.
Ms Nest was the inaugural First Nations woman to graduate from Griffith University's Bachelor of Midwifery in 2012.
"There's multiple different language groups across Australia, over 250, and we all have different cultural customs."
'Ask the question'
Ms Nest said as a Ngunnawal woman and descendent of the Fish River People of Pajong it was common to bury placentas.
"To facilitate babies connection back to country, every area does this in a different way," Ms Nest said.
Ms Nest is confident significant progress is being made towards cultural understanding but said more can be done.
"Firstly, they have to ask if someone identifies as Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander, we can't provide culturally safe care, if you don't ask.
"And then asking, 'are there any cultural preferences that you would like us to adhere to'."
Jami Seale said her experience caused trauma.
"I feel like that was probably the start of feeling out of control with my mental health.
"I didn't have this grand birthing plan that some women do have, I just wanted one thing and I didn't get that."
