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All set to welcome the little love of your life but anxious about how you shall handle hours of grueling labour pain? Well, no doubt motherhood has a bunch of challenges, and there is nothing more difficult than facing labour before you hold your little one close to your heart, yet there is something that can ease, if not reduce, your long hours of painful labour.
If you are a mom-to-be, you have heard or read about the benefits of essential oils and how they can comfort you through your pregnancy. So, essential oils are your buddy throughout this journey, whether it is combating the nausea of the first trimester or dealing with cramps and aches of the third trimester. Then how can you forget them in your hospital bag? Yes, essential oils significantly ease labour pain and promote a smooth delivery if you use them correctly.
However, since there are so many essential oils available in the market, choosing a range that can help your child's birth experience can be a bit overwhelming, so we help you choose the best essential oils that can promise you smooth labour and plenty of joyous memories. Yes, our pick of the Top 10 Essential Oils helps you face labour and delivery with some comfort and ease, reducing pain and soothing your senses to prepare you for the happy times ahead.
Top 10 Essential Oils To Help Induce Labour
Here is a quick rundown of the top 10 essential oils for labour that soothes nausea, relieve your nerves and senses, and control anxiety to help you concentrate on welcoming your baby rather than all the pain, chaos, and stress mar your most memorable moment.
1. Clary Sage Essential Oil For Labor
Derived straight from a flowering plant, the clary sage essential oil calms the nervous system and offers relief from anxiety, mood swings, and nervousness during labour.
As a natural uterotonic, it regulates the hormones and induces contractions in the uterus, thus assisting in labour. In general, the clary sage essential oil is also used to ease menstrual pain and symptoms of menopause, and it reduces stress and pain levels, thus making childbirth a little easier.
2. Rosemary Essential Oil to Induce Labor
Obtained from the leaves of the rosemary herb, the rosemary essential oil has great aromatic properties. It gives added strength to women during labour in terms of mental calmness and advances labour smoothly by intensifying contractions.
The high floral smell of rosemary essential oil helps pain management and reduces stress and anxiety. It soothes the nervous system and calms the nerves allowing the pregnant woman to focus on the contractions and pushing the baby naturally out of the womb.
3. Myrrh Essential Oil for Labor
Myrhh essential oil helps lift the spirit and flag energy during long and stressful hours of labour. As a meditative oil, it instantly calms the stressed nerves soothing your muscles and tissues and preparing you for long hours of painful labour.
It also helps to ease and reduce the discomfort caused by pain and chaos in the labour room by spreading the aromas of calmness and tranquility. Myrhh essential oil keeps the woman nourished and balanced while helping her regain her senses and peace of mind.
4. Jasmine Essential Oil for Labor
With a beautiful floral feeling and aroma, the jasmine essential oil works as the perfect birth oil, inducing contractions and reducing uterine discomfort. However, since it works like a natural analgesic, it should only be used during labour and not during pregnancy.
Jasmine essential oil promotes confidence and calmness while soothing your stressed muscles and nerves. It reduces the uneasiness caused by back pain during labour and helps in the smooth delivery of the placenta. This essential oil hastens the labour process while promoting comfort and calmness and reducing pain.
5. Basil Essential Oil for Labor
The natural chemicals in basil essential oil cause smooth muscles to relax, thus offering comfort during intense uterine contractions that are common during labour. It also helps to fight the extreme exhaustion one faces during intense labour.
The aroma of this essential oil offers great mental and physical strength to the woman allowing her to connect with her inner self during these tough times. By increasing the blood flow to your uterus, basil essential oil ensures that the contractions keep rolling smoothly.
6. Frankincense Essential Oil for Labor
As a natural pain reliever, frankincense essential oil helps soothe pain and calm the muscles. When used as a massage oil or inhaled in aromatherapy during labour, it intensifies uterine contractions and aids a smooth delivery.
Frankincense essential oil's holy smell offers instant relief from the heavy pain and uneasiness that accompanies natural labour. It is often rubbed on the tummy or lower back as calming oil to soothe the intense pain and offer some comfort.
7. Geranium Essential Oil for Labor
Often used as a hormone balancing essential oil during labour, geranium essential oil works as a perfect therapeutic essential oil. The essential oil should only be used in the advanced stages of pregnancy and not before that.
While geranium essential oil speeds up labour, it reduces discomfort and pain considerably. Though the essential oil's aroma is not very appealing, it can be easily blended with other essential oils to reap its maximum benefits as it stimulates the uterus and promotes contractions.
8. Rose Essential Oil for Labor
Rose essential oil offers the perfect calmness during strenuous hours of labour. This essential oil's sweet and appealing aroma induces calmness and offers strength to the woman. It fills the environment with a soothing fragrance that relaxes the muscles and eases pain.
With a comforting sweet floral smell and sensual appeal, it relaxes the mood and offers emotional and mental balance most needed during labour. However, since rose essential oil has a strong fragrance, it should be used mildly and not very close to delivery as its strong smell can irritate the baby.
9. Clove Essential Oil to Induce Labor
Clove essential oil is a strong essential oil, and when used during labour, it can stimulate the uterus and intensify the contractions. The sweet, bitter smell of this essential oil relieves anxiety and stress, and the woody, natural aroma helps you keep grounded in times of pain and discomfort.
The warm aromas of the clove essential oil bring about a sense of warmness and love so that you feel bonded with your little one while you deliver the little one with all the pain. This essential oil also works well to soothe the aching muscles and nerves, all of which experience the exhaustion of labour.
10. Oregano Essential Oil to Induce Labor
Oregano essential oil is known to act as a natural stimulant for the uterus speeding up contractions and the labour process, thus ensuring that you go through a smooth childbirth process with minimum pain and discomfort.
This essential oil is often used as herbal medicine and has anti-microbial, antioxidant, and anti-inflammatory properties. Due to its carvacrol content, oregano essential oil is a natural pain reliever and soothes the mind and body.
Essential Oil Blend Diffuser Recipe for Labour and Delivery
Make your child-birth smooth and comfortable, if not completely pain-free, by trying this simple essential oil blend diffuser recipe that is simple to make and convenient to use. Here is a simple oil blend diffuser recipe that helps you easily combat labour pains. Check it out.
Ingredients:
- Lavender Essential Oil - 5 Drops
- Geranium Essential Oil - 5 Drops
- Peppermint Essential Oil - 5 Drops
- Sweet Almond Oil - 1 Cup
Directions:
Step 1: In a small diffuser bottle, add all the above essential oils, carrier oil, and a few drops of water.
Step 2: Switch on the diffuser and let the aromas of the essential oil blend spread into your surroundings, bringing about a calming effect.
How to Use Essential Oils for Labour?
A woman using essential oil to ease labour is a personal preference. While some prefer to use the essential oils through a diffuser, others may prefer a topical application through a massage that soothes the tired muscles and reduces exhaustion. Here are some common ways in which essential oils are used during labour.
- Diffusion and Inhalation: Through the diffusion process, the essential oils are dissipated in the environment using a diffuser, and the inhalation of the aroma benefits the essential oils. Alternatively, a few drops of the essential oils can be dropped on a tissue, and its aromas can be inhaled by taking the tissue close to the nose. Diffusion and inhalation methods of using essential oils are preferred in the early stages of labour to prepare the mind and body for the stress of labour ahead.
- Topical Application: Essential oils are highly concentrated; therefore, for topical application in the form of massage, it is important to dilute them with some carrier oil so that their effect on the skin is mild and does not cause much irritation. A gentle massage of a preferred essential oil on the lower back and abdomen during the later stages of labour help intensify the contractions and speed the labour process.
Conclusion
While childbirth is a phenomenal experience in a woman's life, and it brings a unique experience for each, there are various tried and tested ways in which the labour process can be eased and made memorable. As discussed above, our list of essential oils for easing labour pain aims to bring you closer to a more holistic and herbal approach to reducing stress and anxiety during childbirth.
All the above essential oils can be easily purchased from VedaOils, a leading manufacturer and supplier of herbal products that promise to deliver quality products with outstanding natural results. So, to all the expecting mothers who are gearing up to welcome their little bundle of joy, do not forget to pack these essential oils in your hospital bag and cruise through labour with zero anxiety and 100% confidence and joy of delivering a new life into this world.
