Essential Oils: My Five Favourite Essential Oils for Pregnancy

When I first discovered essential oils, the first thing I thought of was "WHY couldn't I have stumbled across these oils while I was pregnant?".

I've made no secret of the fact I did not have easy pregnancies. Both of them were pretty tough, and I took a lot of medication to get me through the pregnancy. I had hyper emesis for 24 weeks with my daughter and for 36 weeks with my son. I also had horrendous heartburn, which made the hyper emesis worse. 

It is hard enough to be pregnant and adapt to the hormone changes and the physical changes, not to mention the emotional changes as you prepare to be a parent to this baby that is growing inside you. Then throw morning sickness, hormonal headaches, mood swings, aches and pains and heartburn into the mix, and it can make parts of pregnancy downright miserable. 

Of course, the time in your life when you feel you need to reach for the over the counter medications, is exactly the time when you are not allowed to. The do's and don't's of pregnancy are extensive and confusing, and vary depending on where you live. I know a lot of pregnant women just stay away from all medications altogether, because it's easier than navigating the minefield of what is safe and what isn't. 

What makes things worse is that there are very few studies into the effects of medications on pregnant women. Generally full research studies are not carried out on pregnant women, measuring the effect on medications to their baby, because they are considered unethical. A baby cannot give permission for the study, and it's not really ethical to put that baby at risk for the sake of a clinical trial. 

So even those medications that are prescribed for certain conditions (like the anti sickness medication, zofran, I took during my pregnancies for hyper emesis) say on the instructions not to be taken if you are pregnant, because there hasn't been a full research study carried out on it, because it's not really ethical to do it. 

For those of you who are now worried, there was a retrospective study carried out by looking at the medical records of 6000 women who had taken zofran during pregnancy, and there was no an significantly increased risk of any major birth defects. You can find the study here.

So I wish I had known about essential oils during my pregnancies, because I would have loved to have had an alternative handy which might have made pregnancy more bearable, without having to take medications that I would rather have avoided. 

Which essential oils would have been first on my list if I had had them available? Here they are!

Lavender is my absolute must have for pregnancy. It is one of the most gentle oils and it is so soothing. You can use Lavender for so many things during pregnancy, but here are my favourite uses:

• To help your body and mind switch off for sleep;
• Skin rashes, I got loads of these randomly during my pregnancy;
• Tender breasts, Lavender is so soothing so it's great for those first few months of tender breasts;
• Aches and Pains, I use Lavender and Peppermint for aches and pains as I find that together they are so soothing and help to relax and unwind those tense muscles;
• Seasonal sniffles. I find I'm really sensitive to everything when I'm pregnant, perfume especially. It really gets up my nose and I get the sniffles that I just can't shake. So using Lavender, Lemon and Peppermint is great for getting rid of the sniffles;
• Braxton Hicks. Lavender is great at helping the body to calm and reduce the number of Braxton Hicks;
• Spider veins. Lavender is great for helping your body to repair the spider veins.

Peppermint is one of my go-to oils, pregnant or not. I love that it has so many uses and it really seems to work for me on so many levels. Here are some of the uses during pregnancy:

• Nausea. I love Peppermint for nausea, it really helps to settle my stomach;
• Seasonal sniffles. Paired with Lavender and Lemon, this is a must have for sensitive noses;
• Constipation. Peppermint is fabulous for helping your body to ease your digestive system and help it get back to normal;
• Energy Boost. Peppermint is my go to oil in the mornings for an energy boost. It would be amazing during the first trimester to help get you through the day without falling asleep in random places;
• Breech baby? Peppermint is great for cooling the skin, and it can help encourage the baby to turn away from the cooling sensation and towards the way that you want them to move. In conjunction with breech exercises, it can really help;
• Painful contractions. Peppermint is great for abdominal cramps and pains and so it is fab at helping your body to ease contraction pain. 
• Breathing. I always had a stuffy nose and a congested chest during pregnancy. I couldn't get rid of the eternal coughs and sneezes. Peppermint is great at helping your body to open up the airways and clear out the congestion. 

Frankincense and I have a very special relationship! I use it all the time. I find it's fabulous for me in particular because it really helps support the thyroid, which I definitely need all the help I can get there! Here are my favourite ways you can use Frankincense during pregnancy:

• Skin issues. Frankincense is great for the skin. It really helps the body to repair itself on the cellular level, which is so necessary for the skin. I love Frankincense to help cleanse my skin and to help it regenerate. It's great at keeping your complexion fresh, despite the nausea and the late nights of tossing and turning. 
• Headaches. I use a drop of Frankincense on the roof of my mouth and I find it's amazing to help my body deal with headaches without having to automatically reach for the paracetamol;
• Stretch marks. Frankincense is great at helping the body to repair itself, particularly with stretch marks or other scars. I apply it to my stretch marks every day and it is really helping to fade them out. 

Balance is my best mood management oil for pregnancy. It is fantastic for calming and balancing the body and mind. There are so many pockets of stress during pregnancy and I never knew when I was going to get another wave of stress and anxiety. I was going through a lot of changes and it was daunting, because I didn't have a clue what I was doing! So Balance is the one that I recommend to really help keep you calm, no matter what life throws at you. 

Not just a bottle of essential oil, but a trio of supplements which harness the power of essential oils. The trio consists of: 

• A cellular vitality supplement, which supports healthy cell production and lifespan;
• A vitamin and mineral supplement to ensure you are receiving all the nutrients you need, even if you aren't getting them in your diet (I was so off fruit and vegetables during pregnancy);
• An essential oil and omega complex, which helps to support your immune system, cardiovascular system and to promote joint and brain health. 

I find that these are fabulous even if you aren't pregnant, but having the right balance of nutritional support during pregnancy can make the world of difference to how you feel. And feeling as well as possible during pregnancy is something that would have been amazing for me!

So those are my must buy items to support you through pregnancy. I really hope it helps you to see which essential oils could really help you during your pregnancy. 

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