Episode 48: Can Essential Oils Be Used During Pregnancy?

doTERRA: Welcome back to Essential Oil Solutions with doTERRA, the podcast where you'll hear exciting, useful, and simple everyday uses for essential oils from experts in the field. If you like what you hear today rate, review, and subscribe wherever you listen. We always appreciate hearing from you. Today we're excited to have Lauren Busch talk to us about using essential oils during pregnancy.

Lauren: Welcome everyone. My name is Lauren Busch. I am a doTERRA Diamond and the mother to eight amazing children.

I am so excited to talk about a subject that I'm extremely passionate about, and that's essential oils and pregnancy. When I started diving in and researching and learning all these things about the changes that were happening in my body and the best way to support my body during pregnancy, I started learning so much about what's in our environment and how it affects our pregnancy, how it affects this baby is growing inside of us. 

One of these research studies that I stumbled across was an amazing study where they were actually researching how much of what the mom was exposed to during pregnancy was actually crossing over and going into the umbilical cord blood of the baby. They found that there was over 200 toxic chemicals that were actually getting into baby's cord blood. And these chemicals aren’t minor things. They were endocrine disruptors, they were neurotoxins, they were cancer causing chemicals. A shock kind of went through me and I was thinking like, “What are these mothers doing? How are they being exposed to these things?”

The more research I did I found out it's the things that we're using every single day—the cleaners we're using in our home, the products that we use to take care of ourselves. As we apply them to our skin and as we use them in our environment, they're actually being absorbed by our body and being passed right on to baby. And so, as a mom, I became very passionate about teaching other moms, myself, and just becoming more educated about the products that we're using every single day. 

When I was finding out and talking to my provider about different ways to support my body getting ready for pregnancy, I found that a lot of doctors actually recommend preparing your body for carrying this life three months before conception. This includes cleaning out all those toxic chemicals that you have around your home, really taking a hard look at the products that you're using on yourself every single day, and being aware of ingredients that are in those products.

I highly suggest for all the women out there not, just those who are currently pregnant or just thinking about conceiving, to really look at what's in your environment. Use the free apps that you can scan bar codes. You can find out more about the ingredients and really look into the doTERRA products you have available to you. I have fallen so in love with doing some DIY but my life is obviously busy and crazy with eight kids and DIY isn't possible all the time. So I'm so thankful that doTERRA has so many products that are so clean and so safe and that instead of using toxic ingredients they instead infuse them with essential oils that support my body and this life growing inside of me.

When I was talking about the recommendations from doctors, three months before conception, one of the first things they recommend is getting your body nutritionally ready to carry another life inside of you. You should already be using your supplements to support your body nutritionally. I can't tell you the difference between my first four pregnancies, or five pregnancies, and my last four pregnancies. The difference of just adding nutrition in, what a difference that made—really good nutrition. It's not like I didn't take prenatals before but being able to use the doTERRA Lifelong Vitality Pack® it's been monumental the difference in how I feel even though I a little bit older. I've had a few more children. Life's a little bit crazier, but I actually have more energy and my body is more prepared to support this life growing inside of me. 

So my go-tos, my must-haves, before even conceiving, during pregnancy, and after, are:

• The Lifelong Vitality Pack. 
• DigestZen TerraZyme^®, because your digestive system tends to slow down during pregnancy and your body's trying to pull every ounce of nutrition out of everything you eat. Taking those TerraZymes with your food means that you're actually pulling out all the extra good nutrition that your body needs and this baby needs. 
• A good probiotic. So I love the PB Assist^®+. This actually helps support you both physically and absorbing that nutrition, but it also helps you emotionally. Probiotics are so important for even mental health. 
• And then the Bone Nutrient Essential Complex, because calcium, magnesium, all those things are very vital to having a very calm body during pregnancy. 

Let's talk a little bit about safety because this is something I get asked about a lot. You'll find a lot of different things as you scour the internet about recommendations of what to use what not to use during pregnancy, right? And a lot of the fear comes when you're looking at inferior oils. A predominant amount of the oils that are on the market today are actually synthetic or they're adulterated. And so a lot of the recommendations that you'll see if you start Googling oils and pregnancy and they tell you to avoid all of these different to different essential oils are actually because they're using inferior oils. They're trying to give recommendations that are broad spectrum to everybody like, “oh no matter what brand you use, avoid these.” With using the doTERRA CPTG Certified Pure Tested Grade^TM oils, those worries and concerns go away. You're using something so safe, so natural that's very supportive to the body. 

One of the other things I get asked about a lot is, how do you bring this up and talk to your provider about it? Whether you're seeing an OB-GYN, whether you're seeing a midwife, you should always have open discussions with your provider. I love the relationship that I have developed with the providers that care for our family. We look at it as a partnership and the way that you do that is you come prepared for a conversation. When I walk into the office, I don't just say, “Here's a health concern that I have. Tell me what to do.” Instead, I say “I've done a little bit of research. This is how I would like to support my body. What do you think about this?” And then it's an open discussion. 

A lot of times there's a lot of providers that have never used essential oils before or they don't have a lot of knowledge and they never want to recommend something to their patients that they don't have experience with. So, you showing up with research from aromaticscience.com or from your favorite essential oil guide, and saying, “Hey I looked this up. I researched this. What do you think about this?” Or, “This is what I would like to do.” Or, “This is the results I'm seeing in supporting my body during pregnancy.” It becomes a partnership and then they're much more open to having discussions with you and supporting you in your decision to support your body naturally. 

During pregnancy your body could become more sensitive to essential oils. So start with a little bit less and then really learn to listen to your body. Say, “OK, I know as I'm gaining weight, I actually need a little bit more support,” or, “No during pregnancy I'm very sensitive. I need to use a little bit less.” I always encourage moms to start with diffusing. It's something so simple so easy and during pregnancy when your nose gets a little bit sensitive and you're like, “I liked the smell for like an hour and then I decided I didn't like it anymore,” it's so easy just to turn a diffuser off. If you've lathered your body in an oil all the sudden you do not like it, you need a shower, right? So diffusing is simple. It's very easy, it's gentle on your body and added benefits is the entire family benefits right. The entire family is benefiting from using the oils that way. 

The one oil that I always give a heads up on during pregnancy is Clary Sage. It's not that it's not safe to use during pregnancy, but it's one of those oils that's really great to use during labor. So wait until it's time to go into labor to start using Clary sage. Other than that, think of oils that are supporting you with whatever you're going through. 

So first trimester your body is going through massive changes. There's this new life coming in. What can you do to keep the environment very calm and grounded and inviting for this new little baby that's just starting off? Some of my favorites during the first trimester are Frankincense, Copaiba is another one that I really love, and then Green Mandarin. I love Green Mandarin because again the beginning of pregnancy, your stomach might be a little bit sensitive. You've got new smells going round, your nose is like on hyperdrive, and Green Mandarin is something so easy to add into your water. It keeps your stomach nice and calm, keeps everything nice and cleaned out. I don't know about anybody else, but my tastebuds even got sensitive, so just drinking plain water was hard for me. Having even just the flavor of Green Mandarin made it so easy that I can keep my water intake where it needed to be.

During the second trimester I focus on what other support does my body need, and that's the physical changes that I'm now suddenly going through, right? All of a sudden you can visually tell that you're pregnant, and there's stretching and changing, and your skin's like “what is happening to me,” right? So think of what oils you want to support your body as it's going through those changes. 

Some of my favorite doTERRA products that I probably lather on every single day is doTERRA Spa Replenishing Body Butter. That's one of the first things I like to coat my belly in. I want my skin to feel like, “yeah we have room. We have room for this new little life that's here to join us.” One of the other things I really love is the doTERRA Spa Hydrating Body Mist with Beautiful Blend. You're giving so much moisture and so much love to this little one, the rest of your skin can even be dry. On top of that, it makes you smell so good. So again, those toxic chemicals, those toxic perfumes and body sprays, and all those fragrances that you have to avoid now that you're pregnant and you worry about life for two—you can still smell gorgeous. On an emotional level the Beautiful blend is so great. For a lot of women it's a little bit challenging mentally when we look in the mirror and we're like, “I no longer recognize myself. Is this my body?” So to have those emotional benefits, plus the physical benefits, and you know you're avoiding any toxic ingredients, it's just a win all around

Third trimester. This is supporting your body as it's now carrying the weight of two lives. Your joints, your ligaments, all the changes to your respiratory system, your stomach.... What can you do to support your body so that it feels very comforted and comfortable as it's finishing its journey through pregnancy? 

Some of my favorite products during third trimester is definitely the Deep Blue^® Rub. I put it on in the morning so that my day goes a little bit easier a little bit smoother. Kind of supporting my lower back, my hips, my knees even as I'm carrying around the extra weight. My second product that I love is doTERRA Breathe^®. As you're growing this new life and your stomach is all nice and full and there's extra pressure on your respiratory system, anything that kind of keeps the airway nice and open so that you can take in enough oxygen for the two of you— doTERRA Breathe is an amazing one to just support the respiratory system. I love using it at nighttime, diffusing it right next to my bed. Because as you're sleeping and you're trying to take an all this oxygen at nighttime, anything that supports keeping everything nice and open is one of my favorite things to go for.

And then let's talk a little bit about postpartum. For me personally, and for a lot of the women that I work with, I find that this is where having doTERRA in your life and essential oils in your life can have the most dramatic benefits. You're going into the postpartum period. You just went through nine months of supporting the growth of this beautiful little life. Your body has given it's all. Like, realistically it's given it's all. You're going through the birthing process and now your body's trying to readjust your hormone levels or readjusting. You’re maybe a little bit nutritionally depleted, and your body is saying, “what support do you have for me, how can you help me?” We're not sleeping the same, or possibly nursing or breastfeeding, and all these things are leaving our body and changing our bodies. 

What can we do to support our body? Again, the Lifelong Vitality Pack is a non-negotiable for me in the postpartum period. Keeping your nutrition levels up so that you have everything that your body needs. If you're nursing, you have everything that baby needs is extremely important. I never stop taking my TerraZyme, I never stop taking the PB Assist. But I actually add on a couple of things. I love adding on the Deep Blue Polyphenol Complex^®. While you were growing this life and your uterus got all big and made room, it's now shrinking back down, and I can be a little bit uncomfortable. So what ways can we support our body through it readjusting and going back to the pre-baby? Deep Blue Polyphenol Complex is amazing and it's also very calming for the body as it's going through so many changes. And then the TerraGreens^®. Greens, greens, greens! Anywhere you can squeeze them in, as many greens as possible. These are in smoothies every day for me. I've even snuck them into my brownie mix which I know is counterintuitive, but chocolate was necessary with my extra greens. 

And then my three oils so I would tell you, actually there's four, there's four oils, that I would tell every mom after you're done delivering baby that these should be your best friends. You can actually make these into a really beautiful perfume. It is Rose, Neroli, Jasmine, and Wild Orange. They come in touch rollers so it's really easy to roll on. The reason I love these, is they really support moms emotionally in the postpartum period, but they're also so gentle. If you're lathering your neck in it and you're trying to smell beautiful and feel really good, and baby’s head is resting on your chest, it's OK for those oils to get on baby. They're so gentle, they're so relaxing, so calming and supportive even for baby. But again, you can make this into a perfume. You could open up those bottles and add into a little witch hazel and be spraying yourself down. Having that emotional support while you're going through the changes is everything and a huge gift to a lot of moms.

I hope that helps encourage you and makes you feel more confident using essential oils during your pregnancy! Thank you guys so much for joining in.

doTERRA: Thanks for joining us and congratulations on living a healthier lifestyle with essential oils. If you liked what you heard today check back next Tuesday when Dr. JoDee Anderson joins us to talk about how to know what essential oils to use for what. Also, if you want to try any of the products you learned about, go to doterra.com or find a Wellness Advocate near you to place an order today.