Scents for pregnancy? Not recommended by the Lab

[Lilygirl]

Hiya!

 

What scents would you recommend through the various stages of pregnancy. I'm just over 1.5 months along and want to enjoy every minute possible (even though I know not every minute will be enjoyable)!

 

Thanks!

Lily

[gingersnapp]

Congratulations on your pregnancy.

 

Here is a thread that has some great suggestions for combining BPAL and pregnancy - http://www.bpal.org/index.php?showtopic=6290&hl=pregnancy

 

Hope this helps some!

[theshapeshifter]

Congrats! I'm about 6 weeks along as well, and personally, I'm not using any perfume oils in the first trimester, just to be on the safe side. Besides, my sense of smell is far stronger than usual now, so at the moment most things smell too strong to me.

 

But in a few more weeks, I'll have loads to try, since I still have four pending orders out there!

[Skindiver]

Welcome to the pregnancy super nose club..

I am in my third head to my fourth month and this one has been a rollercoaster of up and downs already. But unlike my other lil ones smell is my main issue since it helps tigger my wicked Morning ( but is really all day and night) sickness.

 

But recently found out the smell of some of the Somnium oils ( not wear just smelling) helps calm and takes the edge off M/S, but my Obgyn also told me the smell of lemon also help which is interesting since I been craving lemon pie and lemon drop candy.

[judas_kiss]

Congrats to you all! May all of you have safe, blissful pregnancies! I found that I had a lot less trouble with BPAL than I did with other perfumes during my last pregnancy. That link is a great one for questions pertaining to BPAL and pg!

 

I swear, we should have a preggers/nursing mom thread somewhere here. Or, do we? If we do, someone please let me know, cuz I'd love to chit chat! There sure does seem to be a lot of us!

[Lilygirl]

Thank you so much (and thanks for all the congrats too - I'm still flying with excitement and feeling great...just exhausted...at 7 wks along). Congratulations to you other women as well! It's great to hear from you. I think it would be great to have a thread devoted to conception and pregnancy!

 

I'm reading the thread you provided me, gingersnapp. Thanks a lot!

 

Hey, theshapeshifter...we must be at the very same stage. I was 6 weeks on the 11th as well. Is your due date March 6, 2006?

 

Mmm, nynaeve - lemon smells and foods sound wonderful right now. I haven't had any cravings (other than the fact that I would LOVE a vietnamese vermicelli bowl at any moment of the day), but mmmm lemon! I must put some lemony goodness on my grocery list for today.

 

Judas Kiss, thanks for posting and being able to speak from experience. I came across another post of yours in that thread, and I think it would be SOO helpful to be able to chat with you if we had a thread devoted to conception/pregnancy/motherhood. You sound like you have lots of great advice to share!

 

Thanks again, you wonderful women!

Lily

[theshapeshifter]

Hey, theshapeshifter...we must be at the very same stage. I was 6 weeks on the 11th as well. Is your due date March 6, 2006?

 

Yes, exactly! Well, at least by my calculations.

[Lilygirl]

I haven't been feeling sick (yet), but I have noticed that my nose has gained bionic strength. I can pick up the smell of garbage even when there isn't a garbage in a 500 yard radius. Also, I keep smelling vomit, even when there is no vomit around. UGH! People heating their lunch in the microwave at work smells like vomit, the gym smells like vomit, WalMart smells like vomit (although, to be fair, there WAS vomit at WalMart - eeewww!) Okay, I shouldn't be saying the "V" word that much, it's likely going to make both of us sick.

 

I just put some Spooky on, normally I LUUUUURVE Spooky, but I think it's too sweet for my nose today. Wahhh.

 

Lily

[judas_kiss]

Well, I have looked everywhere and, besides the preggers rec's listings, I have yet to find a preggers/nursing/mommy thread, so I am going to go and put one in Randomness, if anyone wants to come play.

[Lilygirl]

THANKS JUDAS KISS! Yeayyyyy!

 

Off to continue my nap now (MAN, all I can do these days is sleep and eat soup).

 

Lily

[honeyfire]

People who are mommied up should note that, especially in the final 3 months, there are some oils you should avoid:

the biggies are

Eucalyptus

Menthol

Pennyroyal

but most of the sinus-clearing, circulation-stimulating are best avoided until you're actually ready to for labor.

 

At a place i used to work, a mommy came in and wanted to buy some euc/mint foot balm for her fellow to rub her feet with.

Luckily, her midwife was shopping w/ her, and said "OH MY GOD, NO!!" Apparently that's what she, the midwife, would do to help ladies into labor who were overdue and needed a kickstart...

[babykitty]

I was wearing Alice the day I went into labor with my baby. Alice. It's good one.

[judas_kiss]

I was wearing Alice the day I went into labor with my baby. Alice. It's good one. 

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Aww! I was wearing Alice during my most recent labor! I remember it well. Right before I left for the hospital to be induced, I took a bath with the Lush Santa bath bomb that smelled like Potion, drenched myself in Potion, and then dabbed on some Alice, because I was missing my kids and the smell of it reminds me of my daughter. Yeah, Alice is special to me...definitely a great scent.

Edited July 24, 2005 by judas_kiss

[lotusjenn]

Okay, even though I'm new I'm just going to jump in.

 

Does anyone have ideas about what scents might be good to wear during pregnancy?

 

I don't have a sensitive stomach, but the scents that usually appeal to me--heavy, spicy ones like Blood, for example--smell a bit overpowering to me now.

 

However, lighter scents--like Fae, which I also love, or would love if it had more longevity on me--fade away within half an hour with my dry skin/particular body chemistry.

 

I don't really know what I want. Maybe someone here found a scent that smelled particularly heavenly to pregnant women? Or there's a scent that communicates fecundity

 

But, please, no jasmine. Even a tiny hint of jasmine will be amplified by my body until it is all I can smell and I have a pounding headache.

[juniperus]

http://www.bpal.org/index.php?showtopic=6290&hl=

[styro]

the scents that usually appeal to me--heavy, spicy ones like Blood, for example--smell a bit overpowering to me now.

 

However, lighter scents--like Fae, which I also love, or would love if it had more longevity on me--fade away within half an hour with my dry skin/particular body chemistry.

 

My first suggestion would be to try some of the lighter musk scents, as they won't be heavy/spicy, but should be quite long-lasting because of the musk base. Scents with vanilla bases also tend to be quite long-lasting...so really, the first scent I'd suggest to you is Dorian, with its lingering vanilla-musk drydown.

 

Apart from that, what lasts longest on you tends to be a matter of skin chemistry. There's a thread discussing long-lasting oils here...

 

http://www.bpal.org/index.php?showtopic=38...hl=last+longest

 

...and some of the lighter oils most often suggested there are Dragon's Milk, O, Dorian, and Snow White. Other mentions include Antique Lace, Bordello, Dublin, Embalming Fluid, Haunted, The Hesperides, Imp, Intrigue, The Lion, Morocco, Queen Mab, Swank, Tamora, Van Van, Xiuhtecuhtli, and Zephyr. (Some of these may read as "heavy" to you--it depends on your skin chemistry.)

 

ETA: I realize that Queen Mab contains jasmine, but it never registers to my nose and I'm one of those people on whom jasmine usually turns to horrible soap.

 

You might also want to try Eat Me, Tweedledee, Lyonesse, Obatala, or Shoggoth.

Edited February 21, 2007 by styro

[Em-]

Embalming Fluid is a scent that gets a lot of props from the newly pregnant - the mint element helps keep it light and wearable even in the queasy times.

 

I would definitely thoroughly read over the link to the FAQ thread re BPAL and Pregnancy as well, as it contains not only some scent recs, but moreso, issues re oils that should be avoided and overall safety issues.

[lotusjenn]

http://www.bpal.org/index.php?showtopic=6290&hl=

 

Ah, thank you. I limited the search to the recommendations area.

[styro]

I would definitely thoroughly read over the link to the FAQ thread re BPAL and Pregnancy as well, as it contains not only some scent recs, but moreso, issues re oils that should be avoided and overall safety issues.

 

Having read that thread through to the end now myself, I see that the lab is now recommending complete avoidance during pregnancy rather than just steering people away from certain oils, so please take my list above as hypothetical, as I wouldn't wish to suggest that someone go against the lab's advice.

 

It's a complicated issue and different sources give different advice. Some suggest using certain EOs at half-strength during pregnancy, but--unlike in aromatherapy, where you can control the proportions of essential oil to carrier oil by diluting it yourself--with BPAL, we don't really know the concentration of any particular oil in a blend to begin with. And, while one can steer clear of problematic notes that are listed in scent descriptions (as I tried to do in the list above, though I missed the myrrh in Bastet, so I'm going to go back and edit that one out; and I included a couple of rose scents, which should apparently be avoided during the first four months of pregnancy), one never knows what unlisted notes might be present in a scent. So I can fully understand the lab wishing to protect themselves legally by taking the safest route on this point.

Edited February 21, 2007 by styro

[ivyandpeony]

Having read that thread through to the end now myself, I see that the lab is now recommending complete avoidance during pregnancy rather than just steering people away from certain oils, so please take my list above as hypothetical, as I wouldn't wish to suggest that someone go against the lab's advice.

 

Because of the lab's recommendation that pregnant customers avoid wearing BPAL oils on their skin for the duration of pregnancy, I am going to close this topic to further posts.

 

However, I would like to direct anyone who is interested to the following thread: Light, gentle, subtle scents... for offices, expectant moms, etc. Those pregnant moms who may want to use scent lockets or scent their homes with BPAL should be able to find some great recommendations for blends that are less overwhelming/stomach-churning to the hormonally activated senses.

 

Good luck!