massage and pregnancy

[Gooner.tnh.23.]

I have done training in massage during pregnancy and in particular the use of essential oils during pregnancy and childbirth and I have quite a number of clients for this. Many of them are just about to give birth or have done so over the christmas period and I wondered how soon after birth it is ok to have massage again. I don't remember covering this in my training.

I know that most women have a 6 week check up after birth with their GP/midwife so wasn't sure whether to wait until then or not.

Obviously, it would depend on how the birth was, whether there were any complications, whether it was a natural birth etc. and their health in general but wondered what others though about it. I can imagine it being very beneficial to help get rid of any remaining fluid retention, help improve the skin condition, elasticity, and stretchmarks etc.

 

[giddy penguin]

One pregnancy massage course I did, the clinic hours were post-partum massage at one of the big hospitals in town. As part of the course work, we were working on women that had given birth less than 24hrs beforehand. This was on women that had given birth naturally and by caesarean. I do NOT use any essential oils for post-partum massage - the sense of smell is extremely important to the baby, you don't want the mother smelling different, and quite a few oils can affect the taste of the milk. I won't use anything other than ginger essential oil while they are breast feeding (I will only use the ginger on localised areas and only more than a month after the birth)

I quite often will go into see clients in hospital within a day or two of the birth if they want me to. Doulas often include post-partum massage in their follow-up care.

 

[Pompal 09.]

My midwife, also a massage therapist (massage trained when on secondment as an army nurse in Hong Kong!) gave me the most blissful massage about 3 hours after I had my youngest daughter. She could only do this as there were only two patients in the unit at the time, but I relished it!! I wasn't ill, but had been doing a very physical 'job' for the previous 30 hours!!!!! Good point from cola - don't use anything but a base oil, I was very sensitive to perfumes my self, let alone the baby!

 

[a a]

Thanks guys - that's as I thought.

Breast milk can change in taste and smell due to medication, diet, and hormones but I would say that topical application wouldn't be enough to influence the taste. Maybe if they drank it! The baby may not like to taste of the new milk and refuse to feed which is obviously not a good thing but it would be hard to say what the change in taste was caused by as so many things can influence this.

Can I ask why only ginger? I wasn't told of any restrictions in oils on the course I went on. Also, in the book Essential Oil Safety by Robert Tisserand it says the following regarding breastfeeding: "It would be prudent to be very cautious about orally administering essential oils while breastfeeding, especially with a few particular oils. It would also be wise not to apply essential oils directly to the breats, especially the nipples, unless absolutely necessary." - No mention on any oils to avoid topically on the rest of the body though.

I wouldn't use essential oils around the chest and neck area but I don't see a problem with using a small dilution on the rest of the body. I'd also ask them to wash their hands before coming in to contact with their baby.

 

[cinqacsleaa]

If you rub a clove of garlic on your feet, you will end up with garlic breath - the compounds in the garlic do get absorbed through the skin, they do get into the blood stream, they do get into the lungs, they do get into the breast milk, and that is a localised application on the feet! Some compounds found in essential oils cope better being absorbed through the skin than going through the hydrochloric acid of the stomach, different chemical reaction.

The IFA accredited aromatherapy during pregnancy course I did said to go back to the 1.25% mandarin/lavender/sandalwood combo while breastfeeding, no other oils.

I don't care what any aromatherapy book/course says, yes there are essential oils that are 'safe' to use during pregnancy, they are not going to cause a miscarriage or a 5 headed baby. That is your average 'safe' requirement. Procter & Gamble have research that Vicks VapoRub is 'safe' during pregnancy, IFA would say 7% camphor is not safe, nor turpentine oil.
The definition of 'safe' I am prepared to use is can the baby's liver cope - and there is minimal research on that subject within aromatherapy circles, so I err on the side of caution, because I am fully aware of how powerful essential oils are. Modern life adds a huge chemical burden to the baby in utero and after it is born without the need to add more chemicals to that burden, whether those chemicals are synthetic or natural, like essential oils.

I find most mothers (pre-natal and post-partum) get a huge amount of relief from their concerns just from massage, maybe a bit of essential oils wouldn't do any harm, but they would add to the chemical burden - alone the oils don't harm, but they might be the straw that makes the total chemical burden too much. There are too many people using home care products like Bio-Oil (contains rosemary essential oil) or even natural cleaning products scented with essential oils, you don't know what the total exposure is. http://www.ewg.org/reports/bodyburden2/ is a great read, mainly concerning toxic chemicals, and primarily in utero. I've not seen ANY research on what essential oils cross into the amniotic sac or how essential oils are metabolised by an immature liver (the liver is not fully functional at birth, it takes a few months).

I'm not prepared to provide an additional chemical burden on the baby so the mother thinks something smells nice. I will use ginger because it is so powerful on localised muscles and it is safe to be eaten. The rest of the treatment is the power of touch. If there is a condition that needs to be treated with essential oils, I will decide on a case by case basis for clinical aromatherapy - taking into consideration the breast feeding, it's very very very rare I will use any.

 

[lilitaly79]

I know that compounds get absorbed through the skin and in to the blood stream from topical applications. Compounds of essential oils have been shown to cross the blood-brain barrier and the placenta barrier so I know they can be transferred to the baby. I agree that a baby's liver is very delicate when they are born and can see why caution should be used with essential oils used on them.

I had a little read through my other books and found the following which is very interesting (from Battaglia's book) - "When treating pregnancy and nursing mothers it should be assumed that the placental membrane is no different from any other tissue and, therefore, essential oils will reach the foetus unhindered. Also, during breastfeeding, the very high prefusion of the lactating mammary glands means that the infant will receive a proportionately high dose of any essential oil that the mother is taking, so care is neccessary." It then mentions a reference but the reference is the Tisserand essential oil safety book and this isn't mentioned in there apart from the bit that says care is necessary. And as I mentioned before it only says care should be taken with orally administered essential oils. Definitly a lower dilution is required if essential oils are going to be used during pregnancy and breastfeeding or on the baby themself.

I totally agree that our bodies are chemically overloaded from the foods we eat, the air we breath, products we use etc. pregnancy or not and reducing the burden on our bodies is a good thing to do and this is obviously more important during pregnancy and breatsfeeding so I agree with you totally there.

The pregnancy course I went on was run by a tutor who also teaches IFA courses and she said that IFA err on the side of caution when it comes to essential oils and pregnancy and this isn't a bad thing.

I agree that massage gives great relief to mother's post-natally - essential oils or not.

I was surprised at ginger as a choice just because it has such a potent smell but can she that it is beneficial for the muscles and that is why it has been chosen.

Thanks for that link - it was very interesting.

More research is definitly needed in this area to make things clearer for aromatherapists and pregnant/nursing women. I also think courses in aromatherapy need to be a lot more consistant with the information they teach on essential oils in pregnancy as it varies so much between courses.