Doing Treatments when Breastfeeding

[gettinliad]

i know it is sometimes discussed about breastfeeding women receiving treatments but how about an aromatherapist who herself is breastfeeding doing treatments - what is your take on that?
i have been cautious, just using lavender or mandarin really but now that i need to do some 'proper' aromatherapy treatments i'm wondering if it will be safe for my breastfed baby.
thanks in advance

 

[qmkejixb]

I have a list of 'safe oils' that I found online - Bergamot, Roman Chamomile, Grapefruit, Geranium, Lavender, Lemon, Mandarin, Neroli, Orange, Patchouli, Rose, Sandalwood, Tangerine, Tea Tree, Clary Sage and Ylang Ylang. Avoid all Mints, Hyssop, Jasmine, Parsley, Sage, and Fennel.

However, I don't think any oils in the concentration that we use in aromatherapy would harm the baby. You are only getting the oils on your hands and you wash them after each massage which reduces any risk further. In Robert Tisserand's book Essential Oil Safety, it mentions not applying oils directly to the breat area (which you won't be doing when giving massage to clients anyway (I hope!!!)) and mentions not to use a handful of oils orally but doesn't mention any oils that shouldn't be used on the skin while breastfeeding.

 

[Baby Boy due 2/14/2010!]

I'd be cautious. Eating various foods can flavour the milk, I'm sure using essential oils on your hands can also do it. Also your baby's liver is not fully developed (I can't remember how long it takes before it's a fully functioning liver, but it's much longer than you'd expect) assuming the taste gets into the milk, means some of the other essential oil compounds are getting it to. I'd be cautious with clary sage due to it's impact on the liver.
If some 'proper' aromatherapy treatments means one treatment a day, I wouldn't worry, but if you are going to be doing 5 or more treatments per day, I'd be cautious, and rotate oils like crazy, try and avoid using any oil in more than one treatment per day. Try and do as much as possible just using the cirtus oils (which are a majority of the ones in Lavandula's list ) And watch if your baby doesn't want the milk - you might've made it taste funny, try and figure out what oil might've made it taste funny and avoid it.

 

[Benny]

The chances of your breast milk becoming flavoured from essential oils is very slim. You will only be getting essential oils on your hands and only a very small fraction of that will actually be absorbed in to your body. Yes some foods can affect breast milk but that is because you ingest food and more of its constituents are absorbed that way through the stomach and intestines but you are not ingesting the essential oils and like I already said only a very small amount will be absrobed through your hands in to your blood stream. Then, your body will then filter even more of that out through your liver and kidneys so hardly anything will remain if any at all by the time it gets to your breat milk. Dilution plays a big part here though - if you use high percentages then obviously more essential oil will be absrobed in to your body. Perhaps reduce your dilution to 2% if you are concerned.

But, at the end of the day, it is up to you to decide whether you feel comfortable using the oils or not. If you go ahead and use them and then not feel happy about it, you will be constantly worrying through the massage that it will harm your baby and both you and your client will suffer. You should do some research though as there is a lot of misinformation out there about essential oil usage in pregnancy, childbirth and breastfeeding. I went on a course at the weekend about this and it was a real eye opener.