Using Aromatherapy for Labor, Delivery and Beyond

Listen to this on podcast Using Aromatherapy for Labor, Birth and Beyond

Labor. The word is exactly what it implies. It is just plain hard and painful work to deliver a child. It is the work that a mother’s body does in order to bring her baby into the world. While birthing has been done the same way since time began, the procedures to assist the mother during labor and delivery have varied.

Today many very modern day mid-wives and even hospitals are returning to the use of aromatherapy kits to help the birthing process along….to ease the pain and to lighten the work load. The essential oils used during labor are intended for two distinctly different purposes. They are used to stimulate the uterus to contract.  This helps to facilitate the birth of the child.  They are also used to relax the mother.  This helps to ease her pain.

During labor, essential oils that have been suspended in a carrier oil are massaged into the back of the mother as she lies on her side.  They may also be applied to her feet.

The essential oils most often included in the kit are bergamot, clary sage, frankincense, geranium, jasmine, lavender, mandarin, marjoram, neroli, palmarosa, peppermint, petitgrain, rose otto, and yalang yalang. These can also be applied to a tissue or cotton ball and inhaled. Compresses can also be used to deliver these oils to good effect.

There are specific formulas for mixing these oils for delivery. They are always mixed with a carrier oil and are never used undiluted.

After the baby is born, essential oils are used to diminish the mothers stress, anxiety and to alleviate post-partum depression.

Remember that essential oils are never used internally. They are not used to make tea. However, the dry herbs from which the oils are derived can be used to make tea, and are also processed to be used internally in capsule form.

Everybody understands that breast milk is the best possible nutrition for babies. There are hundreds of commercial baby milk products on the market which attempt to imitate mother’s mild but none of them come close.

When a mother chooses to breast feed her baby, there are essential oils that can help and dried herbs that can help the process.

Among the dry herbs that can be used to enhance the flow of milk are fennel, clary sage, jasmine and lemon grass. These herbs can be chewed or they can be made into teas.

Fennel, clary sage, jasmine and lemon grass are the essential oils that can be massaged into the breasts to enhance milk flow.  Be careful though, these essential oils should not be put on the nipples. Almond oil can be used on the nipples to prevent drying and cracking but it should be completely cleaned off before the baby nurses.

When it is time to decrease or stop the flow of milk completely, cypress, mint and sage can be put into a carrier oil and applied to the breasts.

If after-baby-blues or depression develops, an aromatherapy massage using bergamot, clary sage, frankincense, grapefruit, mandarin, melissa, neroli, or rose weekly can chase the blues away.  A few drops of the above in bath water can help keep them away between aromatherapy massages.