Aromatherapy during pregnancy
Pregnancy is an exciting time but along with all the excitement of growing a baby can come physical and emotional challenges. Essential oils can be part of your toolkit for enjoying your pregnancy and preparing for birth and motherhood.
For a basic introduction to aromatherapy and essential oil, read this first.
Are all essential oils safe during pregnancy?
Most essential oils can be used during pregnancy but at a lower dose. While there are some essential oils that should be avoided during pregnancy, the biggest issue during pregnancy is increased skin sensitivity.
Increased skin sensitivity during pregnancy:
As your skin stretches during pregnancy and due to hormonal changes, you may notice your skin is more sensitive. If you choose to use essential oils during pregnancy, you need to take this into account.
It’s recommended that you use a lower dilution of oils during pregnancy. I usually recommend a 1% dilution during pregnancy.
For example, the volume of your base product (oil or cream) will be 10ml and you can add up to 3 drops of essential oil. For 50ml base product you can add up to 15 drops of essential oil. Remember: essential oils are highly concentrated volatile oils from plants and flowers and even in small doses can have powerful physical and emotional effects.
Safe essential oils during pregnancy:
This is just a small list of essential oils that are safe to use during pregnancy.
Eucalyptus: it could be that growing up in Australia has influenced me but I love the fresh scent of eucalyptus essential oil. This would be my oil of choice if you’re suffering from any kind of upper respiratory track conditions like coughs, colds, sinusitis, bronchitis or throat infections during pregnancy. Eucalyptus stimulates your immune system so it’s helpful to vaporise in your home if you suspect you’re getting sick.
Frankincense: another great oil for respiratory issues, Frankincense also encourages deep breathing and a sense of calm. Often used during meditation, you can use these calming properties if you are feeling any stress and/or anxiety during your pregnancy or in a massage or bath blend to ease tired and tense muscles. .
Geranium is helpful to improve and brighten your mood. Use it in a massage or bath blend during pregnancy to reduce excess fluid especially in your feet and ankles. It’s often used for skin conditions because it heals wounds and encourages new skin growth.
Lavender is calming, soothing and relaxing but also has pain relieving properties so don’t hesitate to add it to your pregnancy massage blends to reduce aches and pains.
Citrus oils: we are all familiar with the fresh fruity citrus fruit scents like lemon, grapefruit, orange, mandarin, etc. Add these oils to your blends to benefit from their mood enhancing properties. Many of the citrus essential oils are also antiviral, antibacterial and antidepressant.
Ylang ylang has an exotic floral fragrance that helps calm anxiety, release tension and reduce panic attacks. Due to it’s strong fragrance, you’ll want to use it sparingly and blend with other oils like lavender, grapefruit, orange and rosewood.
Essential oils for backache during pregnancy:
Your changing shape puts more pressure on your back as your belly grows and changes your center of gravity. Your body is producing pregnancy hormones like relaxin that make your ligaments looser and more flexible ahead of the birth. In the meantime, you might find you are suffering from back pain.
Essential oils massage blend for backache during pregnancy:
50 ml carrier oil
4 drops Lavender
4 drops frankincense
1 drop Ylang Ylang
Blend all the ingredients together and get your partner or a friend to massage over your back and shoulders.
Essential oils for anxiety during pregnancy:
A wonderful way of using essential oils to improve your mood and calm anxiety is direct inhalation from a tissue.
Take a clean tissue and drop one of the following combinations of essential oils onto the tissue. Inhale the scent for several breaths until you feel calmer. Then you can fold the tissue and place it in your bra to continue to enjoy the benefits of the oils. Try to place the tissue so the essential oils are not directly touching your skin.
1 drop Frankincense and 1 drop of lavender
1 drop of roman chamomile and 1 drop of Rose
1 drop of Lavender and 1 drop of Neroli
1 drop of Lavender and 1 drop of Ylang Ylang
Essential oils for tiredness and exhaustion:
See the section below to help you get a good rest at night but when you need a pick me up during the day, try the following oils in an essential oil vaporizer.
2 drops of Grapefruit
2 drops of Lemon
2 drops of Orange
2 drops of Peppermint
Or
2 drops of Spearmint
6 drops of lemon
Essentials oils to help you sleep during pregnancy:
There are so many reasons why you may not be sleeping well – indigestion, difficulty finding a comfortable position, the baby is active and moving or you just need to get up to pee – AGAIN!
Try a relaxing bath before you go to bed. Add the following oils to a quarter of a cup of 3% milk and add to the water once the bath is full. The milk is used as a way of dispersing the oils in the bath without making the bath slippery and dangerous.
Essential oils bath blend for sleeping during pregnancy:
2 drops frankincense
2 drops mandarin
2 drops lavender
Burning the same oils in an oil burner/vaporiser an hour before bedtime can also help.
My other tip for sleeping better during pregnancy is Bach Flowers Rescue Remedy Night. Rescue Remedy night contains the same formula as regular Rescue Remedy with the addition of White Chestnut. White Chestnut is a great remedy for quieting the mind chatter and helping you get a better night’s sleep.
Remember: essential oils can be safely used during pregnancy with caution.
- Check the essential oil is safe before using it
- Use a lower dilution of oiI.
I’m a holistic therapist and I am here to help you!
I love helping women to overcome their fertility challenges and other issues related to your cycles, pregnancy, periods and/or anxiety.
I treat women with abdominal and womb massage techniques known as Sobada (formally the Arvigo Techniques of Maya Abdominal Massage) and reflexology.
I’m also an Advanced EFT Tapping practitioner and I work with women in particular issues around anxiety, depression, stress levels.
I teach Fertility Awareness to help women better know their bodies and improve their chances of conceiving or prevent pregnancy naturally.
I live in Modi’in, Israel and that’s where I spend my days helping women during their fertile years, pregnancy, menopause and other hormonal conditions. Bodywork sessions (massage and reflexology take place in my clinic in Modi’in but EFT Tapping sessions and Fertility Awareness education can take place online or in person).
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