The Boob Group
Essential Oils for Breastfeeding Moms

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Please be advised, this transcription was performed from a company independent of New Mommy Media, LLC. As such, translation was required which may alter the accuracy of the transcription.

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ROBIN KAPLAN: For a breastfeeding mom looking for remedies for common breastfeeding concerns, colds and ailments can be a challenge. Many of the items found on the pharmacy shelves are filled with ingredients that a mom may not want to pass on to her breastfeeding baby. Essential oils can often remedy these ailments without the added food diotoxins. Today I’m thrilled to welcome to the show Rachel Adams Gonzales. Rachel is a breastfeeding mom of two and an essential oils products consultant. Today we are discussing essential oils for the breastfeeding mom. This is The Boob Group episode 96.

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ROBIN KAPLAN: Welcome to The Boob Group broadcasting from the birth education centre of San Diego. The Boob Group is your weekly online on the go support group for all things related to breastfeeding. I’m your host Robin Kaplan. I’m also an international board certified lactation consultant and owner of the San Diego breastfeeding centre. Did you know that you can become involve on our episodes even if you can’t make it into the studio? Post a question on our Facebook page and we will have one of our experts answer it on an upcoming episode. Or you can become involved in our recording days through our virtual panellist program which our producer Mj will tell you all a little bit more about in just a few minutes. Today we are joined by three lovely panellists in the studio. Ladies will you please introduce yourselves.

TIFFANY KYLE: My name is Tiffany. I am 36 and I’m a stay at home mom to one little boy Jackson who is just about 14 months old.

ROBIN KAPLAN: Okay.

SARA SCHMIDT: My name is Sara and I’m 36 as well. I do work full time and I have a little girl 5 and a half months.

ROBIN KAPLAN: Awesome. And Mj is going to be one of our panellists as well.

MJ FISHER: Yes. I’m Mj. I am 37 and I’m a stay at home mom as well as my little side job here producing the show. I have a 2 and half year old little boy named Jason.

ROBIN KAPLAN: Alright perfect.

MJ FISHER: Yeah.

ROBIN KAPLAN: And will you tell us a little bit about the virtual panellist program as well.

MJ FISHER: I will because it’s really just become really amazing. Because our listeners are so helpful they it’s kind of a sneak preview to our show before it releases because just like our in studio panellists, our virtual panellists are making time to be online, they’re sharing experiences, their actually like reading other people’s comments and questions and engaging with them and giving them support and tips and it’s just such an extension of our show and what we’re here to do support each other so it’s really nice to have that.

And if you aren’t local and if you can’t come in the studio then you can still be a part of the show. You can give your opinion or you can just make it a momma feel normal with you know her situation and we may even read your comment while we record. So cool and then we try and post info while we’re learning all this info from our awesome expert so check out theboobgroup.com under community tab for more info on the VP program and possible perks for participation.

ROBIN KAPLAN: Alright fantastic. Thanks Mj.

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AMBER MCCANN: Hey Boob Group listeners! This is Amber McCann. I’m an international board certified lactation consultant and the owner of Nourish Breastfeeding Support just outside of Washington DC. I’m here to answer some of your most common questions when it comes to finding quality breastfeeding resources online such as: Are there any laws to protect breastfeeding in my state? Several times a year, the mainstream media blows up with the story of a woman casually breastfeeding her child in public who is reprimanded by a business employee or a member of the public.

As a strong believer that to see a cultural shift towards breastfeeding we need to actually see breastfeeding. These stories always make me sad. Many women wonder about whether or not they are legally entitled to breastfeed while they’re out and about. Enter breastfeedinglaw.com. This is a great resource to breastfeeding mothers and the general public both. You can look up the laws in your state so that you’re informed and prepared. Know your rights regarding breastfeeding in public, pumping while you’re at work, breastfeeding while you’re on jury duty or any other number of provisions. Check out www.breastfeedinglaw.com.

That’s www.breastfeedinglaw.com. Thank you for listening. I’m Amber McCann and I’d love for you to check out my website at www.nourishbreastfeeding.com for information on my business and a little bit more about where to find great online breastfeeding support. Or join me on my Facebook page at www.facebook.com\nourishbreastfeeding. If you have an idea for a great online breastfeeding resource, I’d love to hear about it. Send me an email to amber@nourishbreasfeeding.com or leave a message on The Boob Group Facebook page. Be sure to listen to The Boob Group each week for more fantastic conversations about breastfeeding and how to find great breastfeeding support.

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ROBIN KAPLAN: So today on The Boob Group we’re discussing essential oils for the breastfeeding mom. Our expert Rachel Adams Gonzales is a breastfeeding mom of 2 and a product consultant. Thanks so much for joining us Rachel and welcome to the show.

RACHEL ADAMS GONZALES: Thank you. I’m excited to be here.

ROBIN KAPLAN: Yeah we’re excited to have you. So Rachel what are essential oils? Give us the low down.

RACHEL ADAMS GONZALES: So essential oils are aromatic compounds found on a plant. So it can be found in the seeds, the bark, stems, roots, the flowers, any part of a plant really and it’s the what I consider the blood of the plant were [inaudible] properties are most heavily concentrated.

ROBIN KAPLAN: Okay. And how are essential oils made that we use?

RACHEL ADAMS GONZALES: Well there’s a couple of different ways that they can be distilled but primarily they are steam distilled in very low temperatures and pretty if done properly, it’s a very scientific and artistic method where you have to have just the right temperature where you don’t lose the medical properties like overheating the oil. And you don’t want it to be too low the temperature that you’re not getting enough essential oil out were you could potentially be losing some of the best medicinal property. And then the other way that it can be distilled is by cold pressed like were very similar with olive oil cold pressed. So doTerra cold presses their citrus oils but the rest are primarily steam distilled.

ROBIN KAPLAN: Okay and so do different companies make them in different ways and are they all the same quality?

RACHEL ADAMS GONZALES: Well the quality varies drastically and there is no any kind of governmental regulation on labelling an essential oil. So you know like I said, steamed distillation is a very scientific and requires a bit of parts in distilling oils properly. And there’s just a wide variety because you don’t there’s not the control necessarily on distilling oils. You still get an essential oil out of a plant if you distilled it at a very high temperature it’s just not going to be the same quality. And additionally most essential oils on the market are synthetic.

There’s a huge market for essential oils so you can claim that you are using 100% pure lavender oil and that lavender oil could very likely be made in a lab. That’s something for you know pretty much in the essential oil and so the vast majority of them are synthetic. And then if they are not synthetic, they’re very likely contaminated either diluted or have been distilled with you know weeds or chemical pesticides. You name it.

To make sure that there is absolutely nothing that could contaminate the oil that what’s labelled on the bottle the only thing in it, they test those the see if I can say this right I’m not a science person, the mass spectrometry and the gas chromatography that has been the [inaudible] he always explains that part. So there really is a huge range in quality of essential oils and it is really important when you’re purchasing an essential oil to get the best quality you can and while you may be able to find an essential oil that it’s cheaper, it really not likely that it’s actually cheaper per drop because you have to use so much more of the oil and is likely very contaminated. So yeah is that answers your question?

ROBIN KAPLAN: Yeah absolutely. Definitely take home on that one is to make sure you’re researching when getting your essential oils for sure.

RACHEL ADAMS GONZALES: Yeah.

ROBIN KAPLAN: So you mentioned the cost. So Sandra had posted on our Facebook page this question: If I’m on a budget, what essential oils are the best ones to start with for my family?

RACHEL ADAMS GONZALES: Well I think you could ask a hundred different people and get a hundred different answers. It really depends on what you’re looking for but personally I would say lavender is a really great one to start with if you like lavender. Lemon is a great one and I use eucalyptus of this in my house and then we’re going to talk more about peppermints and whether or not a good one to use during breastfeeding but eucalyptus is a great one as well and can be used for the common cold and all different kinds of things.

Lavender serves great not only for relaxing properties but using it for anti-bacterial, anti-infectious, anti-viral properties as well. And I loved lavender because it’s great on burns so especially moms that are sleep deprived in the kitchen like me have a tendency to burn themselves and so for I least I do and lavender will take a burn out instantly and it’s great for sunburns so especially in San Diego often to have on hand. And let me think what else - those 3 I think would be really great and then really excellent price.

ROBIN KAPLAN: Okay so I’d love to open this up to our panellists now. So ladies in the studio, which essential oils did you start with your family and why did you choose to start using them? Tiffany.

TIFFANY KYLE: I think I started with T3 oil was probably one of my first and lavender actually and I remember I specifically started shortly after my son was born. He was exposed to some nasty yuckies and ended up getting sick. And we we’re both obviously very limited in what we could do so I started diffusing some T3 oil to see if that would help and I think I just got lavender because it smelled good. I didn’t even know they would do at first. That’s how pretty much how I started.

ROBIN KAPLAN: Good comment.

TIFFANY KYLE: Yes. But yeah I think that’s where I started.
ROBIN KAPLAN: Okay how about you Sara?

SARA SCHMIDT: We started about the same, lavender and then the melaleuca in her wipe’s water. That’s where I started with. Then you know chamomile little bit. And I think Digest Zen. I think it was those 4 that we kind of use the most to the beginning.

ROBIN KAPLAN: Okay.

SARA SCHMIDT: Kind of an introduction.

ROBIN KAPLAN: Yeah absolutely. How about you Mj?

MJ FISHER: Peppermint and lavender, eucalyptus and then I forgot to actually to make the cloth white so I use a little T3 oil in them to. So those are pretty much the ones that we had on hand that were always out.

ROBIN KAPLAN: Okay.

MJ FISHER: Yeah.

ROBIN KAPLAN: For us I know we use a lot of the blends and so the especially for the On Guard…

MJ FISHER: Oh gosh.

ROBIN KAPLAN: We had that blowing on our house literally…

WOMAN: Yes.

ROBIN KAPLAN: Throughout the entire flu season. And it was something that I was turned on to by my chiropractor actually as well as Rachel and then the Digest Zen for those like serious the amount of stomach bugs going around that I see on Facebook literally throw me into panic attacks and so the Digest Zen is often used in any sense that I feel that my stomach is a little off. And then I used a lavender for just soothing my kids as well as anytime we’ve travelled and they’ve got mosquito bites it tends to take the itch out of them which is been nice so they don’t scratch their little bodies up.

So Rachel, Julie had posted on Facebook, how do you administer essential oils and is one way preferred over another?

RACHEL ADAMS GONZALES: Well it really depends on what you are using the essential oils for. So definitely when you’re talking about children and infants I recommend diluting oils but there’s definitely something resides for proximity so if you are trying to treat a headache, you know back of the neck, the temples their the veins that runs right above your ear that’s great. But if you’re just talking about like general wanting to stay well the bottom of the feet is great.

You can put oils on the bottom of the feet and they will touch every cell in your body in 20 minutes and that’s really the best way for me to get oils on my kids because then I don’t have to worry about hands and the eyes and the mouth and getting oils anywhere that they shouldn’t. I don’t dilute oils on myself very often unless I want them to go a lot further. If I’m using oils because everybody is sick then I would definitely dilute then mix in a bottle because I’m using them you know every 30 minutes. And that’s something that I should mention that’s really important when using essential oil is you should use them very sparingly but very often.

So you would get the best result if you use a very small you know a drop or less every 30 minutes to an hour If you’re definitely if you’re combating something that you are concerned about. My daughter recently had RSV and I got rid of it in 5 days but I didn’t sleep for a week because I was putting oils on her every 30 minutes and you know 30 minutes to an hour. It kind of depends on what exactly you’re trying to treat but you can diffuse them as somebody just mentioned the diffuser and we keep diffusers running in our house and I’m really excited we have diffusers in all the classrooms in the school now.

And I’m hoping that keeps all of this messiness going around to minimum. And then doTerra actually recommends internal consumption of many of their oils because they are so pure. I don’t recommend giving them to you know babies or children internally but they can be taken internally and I personally take them internally some are regularly.

ROBIN KAPLAN: Okay. And Melissa had posted on our Facebook page, are there particular essential oils that are not recommended for lactating moms such as peppermint and does it matter if these particular oils are use topically internally or just diffuse them in the air?

RACHEL ADAMS GONZALES: That’s a really good question. Peppermint is a cold oil. It would drop a fever very quickly and when you’re talking about I mean this is getting in into a whole different deeper conversation that you know Chinese medicine we look at all of these different things. If you’re a lactating mother you have this heat in your body that needs to keep from being disrupted in order to produce milk. And peppermint can disrupt that production.

So it doesn’t have that effect on everybody in fact it’s a pretty small percentage of women that it does have effects on but it affects me that way so I know that peppermint does deplete milk supply for some women. And I have two other moms that I know of that I work with that it had have the same reaction. There’re lots of moms that don’t have that reaction but I definitely recommend trying it out in a very small amounts especially if you’re concerned about your supply. I would probably just avoid it. And honestly I don’t know about diffusing it.

My initial reaction would be that you should not diffuse an either simply because the quickest way to get essential oil into your body is or anything is into your bloodstream is by inhaling it. So I have been searching since I saw that question to try to find a good answer and I don’t have a really solid answer but if you are concerned about your supply I would just avoid peppermint altogether. And I don’t - I have not had any issues with any other essential oils in breastfeeding but I always recommend testing an essential oil before you ladder your whole body in it.

This has been tested you know is that this isn’t an exact science and everybody reacts differently you’re not it’s very unlikely that you would have you know some crazy allergic reaction but you may not like the way an oil feels on you. You might not like the oil smell so just test it before you do too much with it. But it shouldn’t affect your supply. And I’ve read a few articles saying that oils like oregano were very-very strong oils can affect to the taste of your milk but I have not heard from any moms that I personally work with that they’ve had any issue with that.

ROBIN KAPLAN: Okay. So essentially essential oils are safe for both the lactating mom and her infant and child.

RACHEL ADAMS GONZALES: Correct.

ROBIN KAPLAN: Okay cool. Alright when we come back, Rachel will discuss some essential oil remedies for some common breastfeeding concerns and ailments. We’ll be right back.

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ROBIN KAPLAN: Well welcome back to the show. We are here with Rachel Adams Gonzales and we are talking about essential oils for the breastfeeding mom. So I have a question for our panellists before we get back to the actual interview with Rachel. So ladies, have you use essential oils to treat ailments while you are breastfeeding? Tiffany how about you?

TIFFANY KYLE: Absolutely. Probably the one that I’ve use the most frequently is On Guard. Once I kind of started delving in into the world of essential oils a little bit more that became my go to. As we know everybody is struggling through this cold season and everybody is been getting sick and knock on wood we’ve managed to not every time we’ve been exposed to anything or started feeling the slightest bit ooky, I’ve done On Guard both internally and diffused it. And then I’ve also used the Breathe Ease formula if we’ve got any chest yuckiness going on. And we’ve managed to stay healthy through this cold season so…

ROBIN KAPLAN: Cool. And so you use it both on yourself and your child.

TIFFANY KYLE: I haven’t used anything directly on Jackson. It makes me a little bit nervous. So we’ve decided to just stick with diffusing for him. At this point it just he’s just a little young stone it just made me nervous so I’d rather use it on myself and then diffuse it in the air and so far it’s been working for us so…

ROBIN KAPLAN: Cool. How about you Sara?

SARA SCHMIDT: A little bit of the same I mean we use like the flu bomb around our house a lot which has the On Guard in it. We use that a lot this past weekend. I do actually use it on my baby but I diluted it way down. And I put kind of like an immunity thing on her as well because she’s not vaccinated at this point. So it has On Guard, it has a few other ones not oregano. I know that because I don’t believe you’re supposed to use that more than ten days in a row. But there’s a few other things that we used on her on a regular basis but way diluted. But a lot of On Guard breed we love. Yeah I think those are mainly especially right now through the season.

ROBIN KAPLAN: Yeah. Yes, definitely. How about you Mj?

MJ FISHER: For myself we use peppermint a lot like if our tummy is upset at all we just throw a few drops on our hand and throw it on our tummy. Actually just used it on Jason the other day so 2 and a half but I will have a little coconut oil and then throw some eucalyptus oil or peppermint or not peppermint but just eucalyptus oil in there. Like when we get sick and I don’t I put it on his feet and I’ll put it under our noses on our chest so definitely I mean it’s like a lifesaver sometimes it’s changes so much so quickly.

ROBIN KAPLAN: Yeah, alright. So Rachel Let’s talked about a few specific things for the breastfeeding moms. So which essential oils do you recommend to help recover from mastitis and why these particular ones?

RACHEL ADAMS GONZALES: Well I personally have used oregano and melaleuca heavily diluted especially oregano is a very hot oil and it’s not something that you want to put it near your nipple where your child could potentially get in his or her mouth without heavily diluting it. And I would still recommend wiping it off if you’re putting it on your nipple definitely wipe it off before you breastfeed.

But I also really recommend using oils for increasing milk supply If you do have mastitis at least I know I struggled with my supply especially when I was fighting mastitis. And some oils that can be used are Clary Sage, geranium, phenol they’re really great for increasing your milk supply and they’re all essential oils are anti-bacterial, anti-infectious and anti-viral.

So we actually sell a blend called Clary Calm and it has all those oils in it and a few more that’s marketed as a hormone balancing blend but it has all these great oils in it for increasing your milk supply so when Cecilia was born I just put it on all over for my boobs really pretty much every time I nurse just because I was fighting clog ducts with all the pumping I was doing we had a number of issues and personally I never got mastitis with her because I was always using oils.

But I definitely was dealing with some clog ducts and it brought my milk in very-very quickly especially because I was feeling a lot of health problems, I didn’t expect to get my milk in less than 24 hours and so you know it’s another thing that you want to play around with your body a little bit and see how you react to the different oil but you can also take oregano internally. And I don’t if it was Sara that mentioned that you don’t want to take oregano for an extended period of time because it is a pretty intense oil. And it will wipe out anything that you’re fighting so any kind of virus or infections you can use this like as if you’re taking an anti-biotic.

It’s very intense but it can be very hard on your stomach. Definitely if you’re taking it internally, have food on your stomach and you only need a couple of drops max so that’s something to keep in mind and are you going to ask about thrush as well?

ROBIN KAPLAN: Yeah! So that and that was a question that came up actually a lot on our Facebook page was the safety of placing essential oils on mom’s nipple when treating thrush on her and her baby. So what are the kind of protocols on that?

RACHEL ADAMS GONZALES: Well so oregano can also be used for thrush. It’s pretty much a catch all. I wouldn’t recommend a baby internally consuming any oil. Even if it’s very diluted I don’t think it’s necessary. It’s not going to cause grave damage if you have essential oils that are residual that they happen to get on their mouth but I wouldn’t intentional put essential oils in a baby’s mouth.

You can put diluted melaleuca, lavender you know whatever oil you have that you’re comfortable putting on you baby heavily diluted just on the bottom of their feet and it will take care of the thrush for them. And then you can take it internally yourself take oregano or you can put melaleuca or any I mean basically it’s the same treatment that you would use for mastitis because essential oils are in more encompassing than other alternative or other medications. And… but I will still definitely wipe off any essential oil that you have directly on your nipple before you breastfeed.

ROBIN KAPLAN: Even if it’s been a couple of hours?

RACHEL ADAMS GONZALES: Well no I mean if it’s absorbed but I just wouldn’t put a bunch on there and then put a baby’s mouth right on it.

ROBIN KAPLAN: Okay. And essential oils that are great for calming a mom’s nerves and surround stressful situations which can sometimes be breastfeeding are just regular old postpartum feelings after your kid has been born. What are your tips for those?

RACHEL ADAMS GONZALES: I already mentioned I love Clary Calm and I think it pretty much saved me with my last postpartum situation. It’s a really great blend for just helping balance your hormones and your milk supply and everything hormone related. But I really love a blend that doTerra called Serenity. The name pretty much explains it.

It’s a lavender based but it is it’s a calming one. It’s basically just to help bring everything down a notch. And then there’s another blend that is a frankincense based that is called Balance and it’s really great. And what I really recommend is if you can smell these oils before you purchase them, it’s ideal. Because you will know when you smell an oil if that’s the one for you. If you don’t like the way something smell it’s probably not going to go that great with your body chemistry.

It’s not necessarily bad it’s just if you love the way an oil smells it probably is going to have the best effect on your body. In my opinion and that’s I go through waves of loving Balance, Serenity a few other blends that we have elevation that one day I love one, one day I love another one but you really can’t go wrong it’s just personal preference really.

ROBIN KAPLAN: It’s funny I have a Serenity and… I switched between Serenity and Balance in my office and it’s amazing like you know a lot of moms coming and they sit down and their like oh it’s so nice and relaxing in here and I’m like I know I’m like dosing you up on essential oils. Make your baby latch the way that he needs to. It’s like I’m using some witch doctor techniques.

So ladies in the studio, you’ve talked about kind of the use of such essential oils in your house. Do you find that you’re staying healthy and that your family is staying healthy and that their fairly effective if you feel like you’ve got some stuff that you’ve been you know you’ve been around but you’re kind of worried that everyone’s catching. Tiffany you’re nodding your head.

TIFFANY KYLE: Yeah absolutely. I definitely attribute as being able to stay healthy I even got my husband to agree to try my crazy hippy homeopathic remedies does last time they got sick and guess who got better about two days without any of his normal you know [inaudible] I mean you name it and he’s a pill popper and he did really well and he was like okay that stuff work. I was like yehey.

ROBIN KAPLAN: How about you Sara?

SARA SCHMIDT: Yeah we haven’t been sick. I mean we did get a little started to get a hint or something when we went up north over the holidays but within like a day and a half we kick whatever was going on. You know it’s just frequency versus quantity with the such oil like often versus using it a lot taking a big dose. So…

ROBIN KAPLAN: It’s like kind of homoeopathy as well. Small doses frequently.

SARA SCHMIDT: Yeah.

ROBIN KAPLAN: Okay how about you Mj?

MJ FISHER: Yeah same over here and actually my husband responds really well to and thankfully his open to our hippy crunchy ways that we’ve adapted as well but yeah he’s like an advocate for we use a lot of homoeopathy but we use a lot of oils to so it’s definitely in my son to. It just kind of a sometimes I forget to use them and it’s like you know you’re you just want your kid to get better and then you think about it and you’re like danggit why I haven’t think of this before. So but definitely I don’t know you know what good karma I have but I have definitely stayed away from any sickness because of that and thankfully because you know you can’t get sick as a mom. So I’m very thankful…

ROBIN KAPLAN: And sick kids are the saddest thing ever.

MJ FISHER: Oh yeah.

ROBIN KAPLAN: Well I think my biggest success story with essential oils, not only did I get my husband on board which he would always go for the NyQuill and the Triaminic and Dimetapp literally like I mean he should have bought stock in it in college. And so he’s totally into it but I converted his mother. My mother-in-law from Brooklyn who back in the day this is what they use so I she actually ask for me to buy her and her friend the Digest Zen and she’s like it’s magic so it’s so wonderful to see like my other family members benefiting from these really healthy remedies you know I just love him so…

Rachel what essential oils do you recommend for treating cold symptoms while breastfeeding and how do you recommend that their use?

RACHEL ADAMS GONZALES: Well there’s a few and OnGuard has come up of this a handful of times since we’ve been chatting and that is just the phenomenal blend. It’s known as our protective blend but it includes wild orange, cloves, cinnamon, eucalyptus and rosemary. And this blend had been tested quite a bit on viruses, bacteria. It actually kills MRSA, H1N1. It can be heavily diluted and it’s amazingly effective.

We diffused it in our house every day and we also mixed it up with a few other oils, kind of depending on my mood, but typically I put OnGuard with you know like 20 drops of On Guard with 1 or 2 drops of oregano because it was very potent, some lavender and some eucalyptus and then put half carrier oil so I used a fractionated coconut oil which means it stays liquidy but you can use olive oil or whatever you have on hand and put that in a little roll on bottle and everybody gets that on the bottom of their feet morning and night and then you can use like a blend that we have called Breathe that has eucalyptus and peppermint in it.

And that really helps open up any kind of track congestion but it does have peppermint in it so just keep that in mind if your breastfeeding. If you want to avoid peppermint, eucalyptus is really great and lemon is wonderful in clearing out any kind of wetness so if you have like a wet cough or a lot of congestion in your head. If you feel like you’re fighting ear infections or sinus infections melaleuca which is T3.

I don’t know if I explained that before those terms that use often changes quite a bit. It’s another great anti-infectious oil as well as lavender and if you are treating an ear infection that’s preceded with a virus or colds or anything like that it’s very important to remember not to put any essential oils directly in the ear. They can be put on a cotton ball and set the cotton ball in the ear or they can be rubbed behind the ear but never in the ear. And then as well with the sinus infection you can just put on your temples or cheeks your forehead but you want to be careful not to get them too close to your eye especially if you’re using stronger oils like peppermints.

It will just make your eyes water like crazy and you won’t be able to open them full. They barely cause harm it’s just they’re very strong.

ROBIN KAPLAN: Okay.

RACHEL ADAMS GONZALES: And yeah.

ROBIN KAPLAN: What are your favourite oils for infants and if we’re putting them on the infants I assume they’re more heavily diluted but if we’re using them in the air, bottom of the feet, stuff like that what are your favourite ones?

RACHEL ADAMS GONZALES: Well diffusing On Guard, I mean I we diffused for our little family so it’s not necessarily different for babies but topically I used lavender most commonly with my kids but it can be very heavily diluted and still very effective because they’re so pure. I also really like using geranium. It’s very floral so not everybody loves geranium but it had really great properties and it is really great and I love to really put massages with geranium and all heavily dilute.

Some women or melaleuca and put it on chest or back if it’s something that we’re fighting that’s you know we just went through RSV so I’ll use other oils that they wouldn’t normally not to do on a daily basis. Frankincense is another great one that is it’s pretty much an all encompassing oil because it’s very anti-inflammatory and every cold, infection, injury, everything associated with some kind of inflammation though Frankincense is one of my default oils. As I’m when in doubt, use Frankincense.

ROBIN KAPLAN: Okay cool. I have a little colic remedy that I use that’s heavily diluted lavender and wild orange that I use for kind of soothing and calming that I found on a book that I was using. So in speaking of books we’d love to know kind of where do you all find your resources for you know which essential oils you’d want to use for a particular ailments or where’re you finding help to kind of to guide you along this process. Tiffany what do you use?

TIFFANY KYLE: A lot of my momma friends actually. People that of gone before me. I ask for a lot of advice from friends that I know have been using essential oils for a while and then as I started learning more and specifically looking into the oils. They have this great little booklet that’s I don’t even remember what it’s called but it’s a fantastic little booklet and it pretty much you look up at ailment and has recommendations for which oils to use. And I find that really helpful as well so it’s kind of my cheat sheet.

ROBIN KAPLAN: How about you Sara?

SARA SCHIMIDT: Like maybe the Modern Essentials book?

TIFFANY KYLE: Yes. I think that’s the one.

SARA SCHMIDT: Yeah it’s like the bible of essential oils. And they make a smaller ones to that you can carry on that’s nice.

TIFFANY KYLE: Yeah it’s the little small one that I know I have.

SARA SCHMIDT: And they have an online version that I go to a lot. It’s eeoils.me I’m there I have a bookmark on my phone.

ROBIN KAPLAN: Cool.

SARA SCHMIDT: I’m there like multiple times a day. And then I just will find blends like I don’t know Pinterest you know like that people you know. I don’t know if they work but let’s try it and see you know.

ROBIN KAPLAN: Okay oh cool I don’t even think about Pinterest.

SARA SCHMIDT: I don’t know because I wanted like what else can we try? I have all these oils what I’m going to do with them?

TIFFANY KYLE: I feel the same way sometimes.

ROBIN KAPLAN: Mj how about you?

MJ FISHER: I’m the same as Tiffany. I put on you know Facebook groups, all my mommas. My sister, she lives in LA but she had my nephew like 14 years before I had my son so she’s way ahead so I’m always look for her for natural remedies and natural ways to do things. So she’s hippo with the oils and homeopathy so definitely lean on to other people in my life who have used them before.

ROBIN KAPLAN: Absolutely.

MJ FISHER: Yeah.

ROBIN KAPLAN: Rachel how about you where’re your favourite resources?

RACHEL ADAMS GONZALES: Well a couple of my favourites that have already been mentioned the Modern Essentials book and www.ee.me is the everything essential about me and that’s a really that is a great resource you are you can have anything and it will not only give you a description, it will give you a variety of suggestive protocols and then there’s the discussion panel where people can post their different remedies. And you know because this is something that there isn’t just say a hard and fast rule of this is going to work for every single thing.

Everybody is different that is according to have some options. And I also read a lot of scientific articles on how essential oils can be used. My husband’s a toxicologist so he makes me really make sure I know about the scientific end of it. There’s a great website called aeromaticscience.com and it’s a compilation of journals, medical journals and all different publications that’s involve with essential oil and there’s a ton of different books out there that you can read but I always warn moms against getting caught up in this blog post about essential oils because they’re primarily opinion based and they can really scare you sometimes and give you all kinds of ideas that are not necessarily you know remedies for things that maybe shouldn’t be used on babies or vice versa.

So it’s just something to keep in mind when you are doing research that make sure that you’re finding information from a reputable source.

ROBIN KAPLAN: Awesome. Alright well thank you so much Rachel and to our panellists for sharing this amazing information about the uses of essential oils for not only breastfeeding moms because I’m not breastfeeding, but you know but moms in general and how to treat their families.

RACHEL ADAMS GONZALES: Thank you.

ROBIN KAPLAN: Yeah thank you so much and for our Boob Group club members our conversation will continue after the end of the show as Rachel will discuss her favourite essential oils for helping infants and toddlers settle to sleep. For more information about our Boob Group club please visit our website at www.theboobgroup.com .

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AUTUMN: Hi Boob Group my name is Autumn and I’m a pre-impose nail fitness expert from mytailoredfitness.com. Did you know that you can safely exercise while breastfeeding without affecting your milk supply? Study show that even intense exercise does not change the quality or quantity of a mother’s milk supply nor does it affect your baby’s weight gain. But you do need to make sure you’re eating enough calories and drinking enough water to replace those nutrients you were using during your workout.

Study show if your daily calories drop below 1500 your milk supply can be affected. So make sure to include healthy nutrient rich snacks into your daily routine. You also need additional water to stay hydrated during and after an exercise. To make exercise more comfortable, you should buy a supportive sports bra. You may also find it helpful to breast feed your baby right before you exercise.

To learn more about exercising after your baby arrives, check out the blog at mytailoredfitness.com we have lots of helpful information for this special time of life and keep listening to The Boob Group for more breastfeeding tips.

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ROBIN KAPLAN: That wraps up our show for today. We appreciate you listening to The Boob Group.
Don’t forget to check out our sister shows:
• Preggie Pals for expecting parents
• Parent Savers for parents with newborns, infants and toddlers
• Twin Talks for parents of multiples.
•
Thanks for listening to The Boob Group; Your judgement free breastfeeding resource.

[Disclaimer]
This has been a New Mommy Media production. Information and material contained in this episode are presented for educational purposes only. Statements and opinions expressed in this episode are not necessarily those of New Mommy Media and should not be considered facts. Though information in which areas are related to be accurate, it is not intended to replace or substitute for professional, Medical or advisor care and should not be used for diagnosing or treating health care problem or disease or prescribing any medications. If you have questions or concerns regarding your physical or mental health or the health of your baby, please seek assistance from a qualified health care provider.

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