7 Essential Oils You Must Pack for your Labor and Delivery
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Heading into labor and delivery can be an intimidating experience. You aren’t sure exactly what to expect, and even after your first, you still wonder how your next delivery might be different. As all you mommas know, there’s no crystal ball that can show us the future, but there are some things you can do to prepare for the best possible experience.
I have a whole list of things that I did throughout my pregnancy to prepare myself for labor and delivery. I’ll share more of these items later because I want to give you one of my top no-brainer, must-haves: essential oils.
In this blog, I want to share the seven essential oils you need to pack in your hospital bag and how to use them during labor and delivery. I’ll be covering:
The importance of good quality essential oils
Effectiveness of essential oils
Using essential oils during delivery
Easy birth spray/mist
Energizer spray/mist
Back labor
Preventing hemorrhage
Stalled labor
The importance of good quality essential oils
If you aren’t already familiar with the different qualities of essential oils, you must take the time to understand the differences between high & low-quality essential oils before you start using them as part of your prenatal & delivery care.
Before I officially joined the essential oil community in 2013, I was under the impression that essential oils were the same & that the price tag associated with brand-name oils such as Young Living or Doterra was ridiculous. Then I learned more about essential oils & how they are processed & discovered that I couldn’t have been more wrong. As far as essential oils go, you will absolutely get what you pay for. If you aren’t willing to pay the money to get high-quality essential oils, I recommend that you forgo using them. Let me explain why.
Unregulated
The essential oil industry is unregulated. Essential oils are not FDA-approved or regulated in any way. This means that many essential oil companies out there use fillers and chemicals to expand their products, even though the products are stamped as being 100% pure. This means you might purchase an oil labeled as 100% pure essential oil, but actually, it has unwanted fillers such as formaldehyde, artificial dyes, petroleum, mineral oil, sulfates, and/or parabens. When you purchase essential oils from a reputable supplier, such as Young Living, you can rest assured that the oils you’re putting on your skin, inhaling through the air, and/or consuming will NOT contain any of those fillers. Oils from a reputable company will truly be 100% pure essential oils.
The Extraction Process
How essential oils are extracted matters. A variety of extraction methods can be used and some of those methods are more cost-effective than others, but that doesn’t mean it is the appropriate method to use for all oils. For example, Young Living uses cold-press and steam distillation extraction methods and selects the method based on the individual plant, herb, or trees going through the distraction process. This is important because, once again, you get what you pay for. So, if you want the highest quality essential oil, you want to get it from a reputable source that will spend the time and money to extract the oils properly.
Not only is Young Living mindful about its extraction methods, the company also ensures that the process is top quality from start to finish, known as the seed-to-seal commitment. First, Young Living starts out with innovative farming and sourcing practices, then,two in-house labs and more than a dozen independent labs prove that the quality started in the field has been maintained through the extraction process. Next, every batch of essential oil undergoes advanced purity and efficacy testing at the D. Gary Young Research Institute. Finally, all of those batches will be tested a second time before they are available to consumers.
Effectiveness of essential oils
Do essential oils actually work, and are they safe? The short answer to both of these questions is: Yes when they are used correctly.
Essential oils have been used all around the world for many centuries. Throughout history, essential oils have been used for various purposes, such as elevating spiritual and religious practices, enhancing beauty routines, adding flavor to foods, and supporting overall wellness. While there is comfort in knowing that all cultures worldwide have trusted essential oils for many centuries, there is also science that supports the effectiveness of essential oils.
In fact, in 2020, Young Living’s D. Gary Young Research Institute partnered with some of the world’s leading research institutes and conducted more than 50 studies to ensure that Young Living products do what they claim to do. If you would like to learn more about the unique combination of constituents that make up each essential oil and how each of those combinations lends itself to a different use, check out this YoungLiving article. The article also explains how essential oil compounds will bind to your body’s receptors, triggering specific effects in your body.
As far as safety goes, the person using the oils must be mindful of the potency of the product they are using and the plant it comes from. It is important to follow label instructions, be aware of essential oils that may cause photosensitivity, know which oils are considered “hot”, and to properly dilute them. Check out this link for Young Living’s safety guide. When you are using new essential oils, remember to start slow. Apply the oils to a small test area to determine how your body will interact with that oil. Only introduce one new oil at a time. If you have pre-existing health conditions, you need to discuss the use of essential oils with your healthcare provider. The same goes for pregnancy. If you are pregnant, nursing, or planning to become pregnant, you should discuss the use of essential oils with your OB or midwife. My midwife team strongly encouraged the use of essential oils throughout pregnancy, during delivery, and postpartum. The only oils they wanted me to avoid included: Tansy, Clary Sage (until after 36 weeks), Sage, Fennel, Wintergreen, and Hyssop.
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Using essential oils during delivery
It can be overwhelming when you’re packing your hospital bag (or placing your first order!) trying to decide which essential oils are worth bringing. Below you will find the list of essential oils that will be most beneficial to you during your delivery and how to use them.
Keep in mind that someone in your delivery room must be aware of what oils you brought, how and when to use them, and where they will be located. Therefore, I would recommend downloading the one-page handout below, giving a copy to that person before you are actually in labor, and putting a second copy in your hospital bag.
Spray/Diffuse
Prepare both of the birthing sprays/diffuser blends below ahead of time. When you are in labor, ask your doula or a birthing support team member to mist them periodically or add them to a diffuser.
How to Make the Blend
Add the oils to a 4 oz glass spray bottle and then top it with water. Apply a label to the bottle so your support team can identify the blends quickly and easily.
Easy birth
20 drops Lavender
15 drops Orange
15 drops Peppermint
Easy birth is a relaxing blend that should be used in the early phases of labor.
Lavender has both analgesic and sedative properties that should be very calming & relaxing and potentially alleviate some of the pain you might be experiencing at this point. Lavender has also been used to treat anxiety, high blood pressure, nausea, wounds, and postpartum depression, making it a great oil to include in your laboring process.
Orange has sedative properties that give it calming & uplifting properties. Wild orange has also been known to treat anxiety.
Peppermint has been used to fight fatigue & nausea.
Get the essential oils you need to make your own easy birth blend here.
Energizer
15 drops Orange
10 drops Bergamot
10 drops Lavender
10 drops Clary Sage
The Energizer blend should be used during transition & through the remainder of your delivery to help boost energy and assist with progressing steadily.
The benefits of lavender and orange are discussed above.
Bergamot is known for having analgesic, sedative, and uplifting properties. It may help to relieve anxiety, stress, and tension. It is uplifting and refreshing. It helps to expand and open the heart chakra and to radiate love energy.
Clary sage has been used for many years to treat various female symptoms such as menstrual cramps, PMS, and premenopause. It has also been used to progress labor and, in some cases, initiate labor.
Get the essential oils you need to make your own energizer blend here.
Back labor
Almost all women will experience some degree of back labor. However, a quarter of women report experiencing intense back labor, causing extreme pain and discomfort with each contraction. To ease back labor, dilute 1 to 3 drops of black pepper into a carrier oil* and massage into the lower back. Black pepper can be applied in the same method as a preventative effort as well.
*Don’t know what a carrier oil is? Check out this article.
Preventing hemorrhage
Between 1 and 5 women out of 100 will hemorrhage after the delivery of the placenta. While it is not necessarily a startling number, you can simply apply helichrysum to your lower back as a preventative measure. Helichrysum has been used for many years to stop bleeding, making it perfect for this situation. Dilute 1-3 drops in carrier oil and massage it into the lower back during labor.
Stalled labor
As mentioned previously, Clary Sage is an excellent oil to progress labor or initiate labor to begin with. If you find yourself in a stalled labor situation, simply massage Clary Sage onto your lower abdomen.
When you are preparing your hospital bag, be sure to grab these 7 essential oils as well as the directions on how to use them. If you need to purchase any of these oils, click here to visit the Young Living website, where you can order 100% pure, top-quality oils.
Be sure to download the one-page handout to take to the hospital with you, which shares what oils you have packed, where to find them, and how you would like your labor support person to use the oils throughout your labor.
You’ll never know what your labor experience will be like, but I believe wholeheartedly that if you prepare all the things you can you’ll be able to go into the unknown feeling more confident and ready for whatever comes your way!
