Essential Oils for Labour and Birth.

Every birth experience can be different.
Using essential oils during labour and delivery can be a great help if used the right way!
I’ve helped many mama’s get set up with essential oils for birth, and everyone has had their own beautiful experience with them, in different ways.

I have personally had a positive experience using essential oils to support my labour and childbirth and can hand on heart say how grateful I was to have them with me for the most intimidating moment of my whole life.
You can read my birth story here

This was my Hospital Bag packed with all the essentials on the top!
Here’s what I used, and what I suggest.

Labor Support / Emotions & Anxiety.

Aromatically:
Wild Orange and Balance mix well together to create a calming and balanced environment.
It creates confidence and strength to keep your mindset strong on what you need to do.

I added in Lavender Peace to create a calm and positive environment for the baby to arrive into, and of course mama.
A calm environment will help the bonding process too!
Diffuse them or make it into a room spray.

Topically:
Apply Balance to the bottoms of feet, pulse points, or to the back of your neck.

It’s also great for your birth partner or doula to apply to their collar for mama to smell when they’re close by.

Nausea:

Aromatically:
Peppermint, Ginger, or Cardamom.

Apply a drop into hand to inhale or use nasal inhaler.

Black Pepper:

Topically:
Dilute with Fractionated Coconut Oil and apply to lower back to help relieve discomfort during labour.
This oil is sensational when experiencing back labour.
(I couldn’t believe how fast it helped!)

Clary Sage:

Clary Sage is a great calming oil that helps relieve tension.
It may assist in strengthening contractions, and keeping them regular once they begin.
Apply to lower belly, the nail bed of pinkie toes, and inside of ankle bones on both feet once labour has started.

I combined Clary Sage and Jasmine together for steady contractions.
Clary Sage blends well with Geranium and Lavender, too.

For Birth:

Peppermint:

Peppermint comes in 3 different ways:
15ml Undiluted pure oil.
10ml diluted roller bottle.
Beadlets which are 1/4 of a drop.

Peppermint helps with energy when feeling exhausted.
It also was super supportive to inhale when the contractions made you feel like throwing up.

Aromatically:
Diffuse peppermint with wild orange to create an environment of alertness and focus; can use a nasal inhaler.

Topically:
Apply to back of neck or bottoms of the feet to help cool down.

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These same oils can be used to help with a caesarean birth.
Balance is a great oil to both mama and birth partner to ground themselves before going into the operating room.

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Essential oils added to nasal inhalers are great to use during labour, birth, and caesarean birth, this way the aromatic compounds are reaching the Limbic System to support your body during birth – plus it’s way easier than opening a bottle and dropping it into your hand every time.

Don’t have oils?
Find them here

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Other little holistically minded fun facts:

The placenta holds all the blood for the baby while baby pushes through the birth canal. It’s important that the placenta cord is not cut until it’s stopped pulsating. This means the blood has been transferred back into the baby.
Why is this so important?
The placenta blood holds majority of the baby’s stem cells, these are needed to create healthy muscles, organs, brain development and most importantly immunity.
Make sure your midwife and birth partner are aware of this request and don’t cut that cord until it’s ready! (It takes all of 2 minutes)

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The “white stuff” that the baby is covered in when it’s born is super important too!
It’s called Vernix Caseosa.
Make sure it’s not wiped off, rub it into their skin and hold off bathing bub for a few days after.
It plays a big part in your child’s gut bacteria and immunity, so rub that in mama!
Read more here:

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Vitamin K is naturally produced within the baby after 8 days.
They don’t need a synthetic version.
I used doTERRA’s Lifelong Vitality Pack Supplements as a Prenatal and it contains Vit K.
You can also eat lots of leafy greens in the lead up to your birth, they’re high in natural Vitamin K and will help naturally when baby comes along.

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The inside of your ankles is a great place to apply essential oils to support contractions as it’s an area that contains the pressure point to help stimulate the uterus helping with labour.

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I hope this helped you mama.
It’s a daunting experience learning about essential oils and birth support as there is so much information out there!
I’ve compiled the information that helped me, and what I actually used during my birth and remember; Every birth is different, listen to your body and don’t be too hard on yourself. You’re body is amazing, embrace it’s every move!

All the best for your birth!

lots of love, Hayley x

PS: If you liked this post, i’d love to hear from you in the comments.
If you still have questions, please contact me, i’d love to chat with you x