The Pregnant Perfumer and a giveaway
Originally posted April 4, 2013
Today I have a special guest blogger, Hemla S., an Israeli student at the Natural Perfumery Institute. She was a little overdue getting her assignments to me, and she wrote…well, the spoiler is at the end of the blog.
Hemla: I remember when pregnant with my eldest, prior to giving birth, I read a lot about labor, the human anatomy, the hormones in action, and how to combine all these different aspects of the human to allow a truly empowering birth to happen. I read an article that discussed how to know how dilated the laboring woman is, without actually checking her cervix –the pupils, behavior, sounds made by the woman and more. one thing that really caught my attention: it said, that just before giving birth there is a smell in the room, many people forget it was there, but if you mention it to a woman who had given birth, or she smells it again she will say ‘oh yes’ the article said there is a distinctly animal smell in the air before the baby is ready to be pushed out.
This is true. There is a very musky –not dirty, but animal smell in the air.
It is believed that in utero, the fetus can smell –with all the amniotic fluid which he ‘breaths’ freely, not getting his supply of oxygen from the nose/lungs. And thus, when the baby is born, he knows the smell of his mother, from without, as he grew so familiar with it from within.
Nursing, too, is very scent sensitive. When my child was 3-4 months old, for the first time I went into the studio and played around with my blends. I came out smelling like a garden, with all these gorgeous florals and balsams on my fingers and arms. I sat down to nurse my baby, and she wouldn’t nurse. She did not like being held by me with me masked –so close, and yet so far. (After that experience, I didn’t go back to blending until she was around a year old)
Pregnant ladies have an extremely sensitive sense of smell, laboring ladies even more. It is common to hear ladies talking of the smells they simply could not stand –especially in their first trimester smells such as eggs, cooked foods, musks –even synthetic- are commonly shunned by expecting mothers. I remember speaking with an older lady about her birth experiences, and she was discussing the birth of one of her sons, and how the midwife had on this awful, musky perfume! And she could not stand whenever she entered the room! (to think, such a small detail, to be remembered so strongly after so many years)
The Mother relies on her sense of smell to love her baby as well. It is now known that washing a just born child is not necessary, and can even hinder the bonding supposed to occur between mommy and baby.
I believe that nursing babies will always smell a bit like their mother, not only for the shared genealogy, but also since their diet is the same, another thing that plays a big roll in keeping the mom attracted to her baby –we are easily attracted to what is familiar, and similar to us.
Chinese medicine says pregnant women are not allowed to smell Musk pods –It can put her immediately into labor –whether she is 6, 8 or 9 months pregnant.
Our sense of smell plays a strong role in helping us chose a compatible partner – A friend of mine told me that when he learnt that, he stopped using scented deodorant. He did not want to attract someone who would not be attracted to him over time.
There are many aromatics that I detect a smell that strongly reminds me of sex –Sandalwood being the strongest of these. Not dirty, musky and moist. I believe this plays a strong role in people’s’ attraction to these scents, after all, scent is the foreplay of the plants and bugs.
There can be no reproduction without scent, there can be no continuation, attraction, nourishment, without scent. Our society does not see this as such an important sense, and we are not brought up in a way that develops and sharpens our sense of smell, the opposite is more true, usually it goes overlooked. Yet it’s role is just as important, whether known or ignored.
Natural aromatics do not cover ones natural scent, they melds with, and enhance. But still, it is very possible to detect –on a primal level – whether this partner is compatible with you. Attractive, healthy, etc
.
May we be blessed to share many more smelly days, sharing with our loved ones in the beauty of this world.
Hemla
Small note: this essay is a melding of two of my passions – birth and perfume. I am a doula, and am constantly blown away by what really goes on when a child is born –in the mother, in the child, in the people surrounding and on a spiritual level-in all the world. I enjoyed melding one passion with another.
And another note: Anya, I wrote this before I had gotten pregnant, funny, I guess on some psychic level, I knew that this is a direction I will soon be taking once more
Anya’s note: Hemla is the first student to write in depth about her experiences working with aromatics while pregnant, and it’s more informative because she is a doula. I remember reading about the smell/repulsion factor during pregnancy in many aromatherapy books, and how many posted in aromatherapy forums that jasmine grandiflorum absolute was used at a certain stage of labor.
Does anyone have a “pregnant perfumer” or “pregnant aromatherapist” story to share?
Leave a comment by 11:59 PM April 5, 2013 and you’ll be in a drawing to receive a 4ml bottle of exquisite jasmine grandiflorum absolute, diluted 10% in organic grain alcohol. It’s the same jasmine my students receive in their kits. The alcohol helps ‘open up’ the jasmine and it’s wearable as a perfume on its own. If you’ve never experienced true, high-quality jasmine, this will delight you.
PS: don’t forget to subscribe to the blog and/or all the posts. My focus on blogging is to bring the most interesting and informative topics to you, most centered around natural aromatics, perfumery education, the Natural Perfumers Guild and all things that smell wonderful!
An exciting read! My sister has a doula overseeing her pregnancy… and I love the idea of it! I have learned so much… birth and perfume… balance and harmony… so many of the same elements in both realms! I am sharing this with her! Thank you!
When I was pregnant I was repulsed by many smells. My partners cologne nauseated me I remember it was called Halloween. My sense of smell and taste was off. I wasn’t using essential oils too much at the time because of that and also safety concerns over certain oils.
Very good article! When I give birth, I’m definitely having a doula! It’s fascinating to learn that there is a distinct smell before a woman gives birth. I would want my room scented with calming and soothing smells!
Very interesting article.Sent is so vital to us.As a child I derived great comfort sleeping with my mothers nightie.It smelt of her and I loved her smell.Even to this day as a woman in my 50’s, her smell still delights me. Its a combination of soap,perfume,face cream,face powder and everything else but totally unique.The same experience also with my son.He will nuzzle up to me and he is 15 now and remark how much he loves my smell and that it “smells like mommy”I think these bonds must happen at birth for sure.
Absolutely! During both 1st trimesters I was highly intolerant of most smells except for a light peppermint which helped settle my stomach. By the second trimester I was again able to enjoy most smells and found that my nose was even more acute. I took advantage of this. During birth I turned to my oils yet again to help me through the process. Lavender was NOT at all calming during this time and even smelled harsh. So I went straight for the florals and felt like I could break them apart and smell each individual molecule. It was a very intense and highly meditative experience.
I went super-sensitive during pregnancy and couldn’t stand any strong smells at all, not even nicer ones like passing a bakery or fresh coffee. Anyone wearing scents would make me have to run off and be in some fresh air. I found that I could separate the smells of a whole street and be able to walk a path between them all as much as possible. I believed it was so that if I was in the wild, I could smell any danger for my unborn child from much further away to give my less agile body more time to get to a safer place. The smell during birth that was remarkable for me was the powerful straw-like smell of the amniotic fluid. I wondered if this is the musky smell you describe. I used hypnotherapy for my first child and it was a very peaceful thing to do under the circumstances. My birthing brief from the therapist was to imagine I was unfurling like a flower. I still couldn’t bear any scents at all though until I had finished feeding about a year later. I didn’t want anything interfering with that lovely baby head and back of the neck smell.
I remember that I had to completely shut the door to my perfume workspace when I was pregnant. I was going great guns blending and experimenting and pregnancy put an abrupt end to it. But not before I created three blends for the birthing process. As an aromatherapist I was aware of some of the oils used for pregnancy then did additional research.
Unfortunately I had a cesarean instead of a natural birth so I can’t attest to their effectiveness but I did diffuse one blend in the recovery room.
Blend #1 was for relaxation and the first stage. It contained
patchouli, neroli, rose bulgarian, chamomile, lavender, bergamot, mandarin red. This was a diffusing blend.
Blend #2 was for Courage and deep breathing during later first stage, transition and second stage. This one had frankincense, sandalwood mysore, spikenard, neroli, jasmine grandiflorum, clary sage, and sage dalmation. Again a blend to be diffused
Blend #3 an Analgesic Massage blend for use on the feet, shoulders and neck. This one contained clary, lavender, black pepper, nutmeg, roman chamomile and geranium bourbon. A 1% dilution of the combination in jojoba oil for massage purposes. Or to be very safe just diffuse.
From my research I found some of the essential oils a midwife may use in comforting the mother and easing the birth of a child: Rose acts as a uterine relaxant, Jasmine strengthens contractions, Clary Sage is an analgesic and produces euphoria, Lavender calms, and Neroli is for anxiety. How they would be used on the physical body I’m not sure but I wonder if you might Hemla. This is an area I was deeply interested in and I’m so thrilled you wrote about it for this blog.
I too had midwives tending me during pregnancy and about a month later when I returned to my sacred and greatly missed studio, I made a perfume to honour their services. It was called FULL BLOOM.
Thanks for this wonderful blog,
Suzy
When my daughter-in-law was about 7 1/2 months pregnant, she (and my son) visited. One afternoon, she & I created 3 different blends of essential oils (in jojoba) for different stages of labor and after the birth. I did some reseach and from that, and my collection of EOs, and her personal preferance, we came up with different blends that helped her a lot. Plus it was awesome for me to be involved in this way, as we live several hours away.
I’m glad to hear that there is benefit for an actual laboring woman.
Dear Suzy:
Thanks for sharing all of this great information. You greatly expanded upon the oils used during delivery, which is wonderful, as I was only focusing on jasmine, having read anecdotal and book sources. Nothing like the word from a woman who has researched and given birth! Full Bloom must be wonderful.
xoxo,
Anya
Thanks Anya. Your words are greatly appreciated. And as you very well know, the research is so much fun. Hugs, Suzy
Fascinating, and yet, most of it is not at all surprising. After all, we are animals (although highly evolved ones). That said, our sense of scent is probably the worst of the ‘animals.’ But I’ve found women have a keener sense, and those who live without harsh chemicals, who don’t smoke and who work with pure essential oils seem to have the sharpest noses.
By the way, my jasmine has been blooming it’s little head off…..over 20 flowers so far and counting. It’s a Night Blooming Jasmine. Divine!!
I would read a whole book written by Hemla on this subject! How utterly fascinating that there’s a smell in the room before giving birth. I’ve read about how people choose one another based on their own human scents (namely that genetically dissimilar = attractive), and I think it’s trouble the way that we as a society thoughtlessly mask our own bodily scents with synthetics (smelly laundry detergent alone does the job). I’d like to believe that naturals don’t truly mask, but rather augment, but is it really so? I find that after working in my studio making natural bodycare, if I anoint myself with the goodies still clinging to the melting pots, I emerge smelling quite intensely of something other than myself. Anyway, just musing… it’s wonderful to hear other people’s thoughts on this fascinating subject! Suzy, thank you for writing details about your blends. I’m hoping that I’ll going through the experience of being a pregnant perfumer sometime soon! That will be a real education.
Good Luck Priya. I’ll keep my fingers crossed for you. Just remember to relax. Suzy
Thanks, Suzy! Right now it’s just an idea and an intention, but we all know how quickly life evens take shape.
A question for those of us who work with natural aromatics (as perfumers, bodycare crafters like me) – do you continue to work during pregnancy, or do you have to temporarily close up shop?
Dear Priya:
I, too, believe that naturals enhance and work with our natural smells. I believe synth smells mask and/or disrupt our natural smells.
xoxo,
Anya
PS: hope your wish comes true!
This is an awesome report. I do agree with not using deodorant. I only use my perfume blends as deodorants. My daughter who used to work at a Condomsence she said that they sell a perfume with some kind of pherome and their best costumers where old ladies. They said that that smell makes people kinder. Deodorants blocks natural pheromes.
Dear Eileen:
I like to keep myself scent-neutral most of the time, as my nose is so involved with my evaluations and blends 😉 So, for that reason I do not use oils as a deodorant, I use a salt stick from the health store. It works wonderfully, as bacteria, the cause of body odor, can’t grow in salt.
xoxo,
Anya
i don’t have a story, so no need to enter me in the draw.
i did want to wish helma, chaver sheli, beshaah tovah <3
much light, einsof
Love this and I want that Jasmine!! 🙂
I was a midwife for years and I agree that the smell in the room of a laboring and birthing mom is profound-earthy, organic, even salty and minerally…I would like to know if there is aromatherapy for women who have morning sickness to help with that smell sensitivity that causes debilitating nausea in the first trimester. I have one friend who is smelling peppermint and lemon essential oils. Any others that may be helpful?
Dear Giselle:
Some may find teas, instead of oils, helpful. Peppermint and lemon are great choices. From research I did for my ongoing herbalism studies, I found a tea of dill weed was rubbed on the gums of babies to help them with teething pain, and the old Anglo-Saxon word “dil” means “to dull”. I’m stretching it here, but since all of the dill relatives, including caraway, anise, etc., are wonderful carminatives (reduce nausea and gas), a little dill tea or dill in veg or chicken broth might work. Plus, she’ll then know to use it was a tea to rub on the baby’s gums later on!
xoxo,
Anya
Yay! Thank you Anya for posting.
Perhapse we can put together something about parenting with scents as well…. whenever my daughter gets out of whack with her sleeping schedule I’m tempted to diffuse lavender in the bedroom -it knocks me out in less than 3 minutes. but then I worry that’s just what will happen, i’ll be asleep on the bed and she’ll be bouncing all over 🙂 so I haven’t tried that one yet.
fascinating what everyone is sharing and I will try the blends Suzy shared.
Thank you everyone for the supportive feedback
Hemla
Dear Hemla:
First, thanks for being such a great student and for being willing to share your personal story. You can see by everyone’s reaction that you reached many and have inspired them to share their stories or to follow up and learn more. This post got over 500 hits a day for a few days, so it reached many!
If you wish to research more into this subject, we’ll see about moving forward with herbal and aromatherapy/perfumery writings on the subject.
xoxo,
Anya
My ‘babies’ are now in their 30’s. It’s a scary thought. Back then Doctors knew it all :rolleyes: and hospitals were staffed by nurses who had, ” No time for all that nonsense! “, so as fast as my babies were delivered I wanted home. Home deliveries were considered unhygenic, unsafe, and backwards looking. Amazing how things change 🙂
Anyway, I longed for the smell of my own home, my own bedding, my own washing, my own garden air. My husband brought me in fresh cut sweet peas everyday 🙂 The nurses complained that they died too quickly in the artificial heat of the ward, but the scent was tangible enough that I could actually sleep, rest properly, and I kicked up a fuss when they tried to take them away from me at night.
My second son was born in April, and the primroses were in bloom, but they’re such tiny little things, so my husband brought me in freesias and their beautiful scent worked it’s magic.
I had been totally unable to use artificial scented things right through both pregnancies, only geranium rose scented soap and talc (nowadays a no-no, but back then it was commonplace) from plain castille soap put by with leaves to harden off and pick up some scent, and home made rosewater from my big dark old fashioned roses.
I left a coffee morning in a neighbour’s house feeling incredibly nauseous because she used such strong fabric conditoner in her washing. I visited her loo and had washed my hands with the soap and dried them on the guest towel and couldn’t wait to get home to get that stench off my hands. Too many incompatable stinky smells.
My sense of smell has always been very good indeed, but pregnancy took it up a couple of notches. I think it lingered higher right through my sons infancy too though; I know I would refuse foods for them that somehow just did not smell ‘right’.
I rather envy the holistic approach of a doula, really wish that such had been available when I had my children. I tell you though, I’ll happily pay for the lady’s services for any daughters in law when they are pregnant 🙂
Anya, thank you for sharing Hemla’s article; very interesting, very hopeful for future mothers.
best wishes,
Mary
Takes me back 33 years when I was pregnant, wish I had know about aromatherapy then. I love jasmine and would love to try it.
True! As a perfumer with a two year old (you remember my pregnancy, Anya!) I can attest to the metallic, musky smell of a baby about to be born. I was able to delivery Angelo completely naturally thanks to great support from Ted and the four aromatherapy sprays I created for labor and delivery: one for each stage of labor. I can’t say enough what a profound effect those sprays had on my experience. We even opened the one with the lotus (second stage) and dumped the whole thing it into the tub of water I was soaking in. I went from 3-10 centimeters in an hour!!! Since I had been meditating and visualizing with the oils ahead of time to prepare my body to accept the cue from each spray, the sprays were very effective. It also gave me a good way to mark the progress. The midwives at the birth center LOVED them and immediately asked to incorporate them into their practice! I’ll be offering the sprays as a kit for expectant Moms later this year. I’m working with my hypnotist to record the meditations that we used that go along with each stage, so that it comes as a complete set! So glad Hemla wrote about her experience and is bringing awareness to the magic of the oils to optimize and ease into the experience.
Dear Christi:
I know that little Angelo Carmine Romeo has been a joy and inspiration to you, and now you’ll be able to share your experience with others via your sprays.
xoxo,
Anya
Helma ~ Pregnancy & Aromatherapy, these are passions I, too, share! LOVE this post and all the comments. Agree with Priya, would happily read an entire book on this. Anya ~ Thanks for introducing this subject on your blog!
I birthed both my sons (now 35 & 40) naturally (using trained relaxation skills via the Bradley method), but in a hospital. Really wanted home births, but the boys’ father….my birth ‘coach’ hubby wasn’t comfortable out of a hospital setting.
Fortunately, I never had early trimester nausea. In fact, when pregnant, felt at peak health ~ gorgeous skin / hair (but lost my curls), thrilled, honored, radiant with a lovely sensual sexuality ~ an unforgettable experience. Highly recommended!
We lived in a ‘clean lifestyle’ communal house of young (late teens – early 30s) meditating vegetarians, two of whom worked in a health food store. No off smells: meat, cigarettes, alcohol, artificial fragrances, household chemicals, city traffic fumes, etc. to contend with. That probably improved my experience more than I was aware of at the time.
This was long before I knew about aromatherapy though I’ve always appreciated lovely natural fragrances since being little. Favorite young motherhood smells: a breast-fed baby’s skin & hair…and my own skin warmed by the sun.
I had a pinhole amniotic leak when I was 9 months pregnant. I knew it by the smell. The doctor didn’t believe me and used a test to confirm it. When my children were babies I actually didn’t feel as loving towards them when I had a stuffed nose. We are animals and our sense of smell does play a role in our lives. Most people just aren’t in tune with that part of their senses. Love your posts as usaual!
I don’t really have any pregnant perfumer stories, as I have never been either one, though I hope to be a perfumer someday… But my stepsister is expecting very soon and was quite sensitive to smell–she said she really noticed a difference after the dishes in the sink were cleared, and could sit at the kitchen table comfortably. My stepmother plans to be a doula for her and also for a family friend. The friend says she would really like to be surrounded by music and my stepmother volunteered to learn a playlist of songs to sing for her while she’s in labor! Doulas are pretty awesome, I think.
I too have read about natural body odor being a part of overall romantic compatibility and attraction. Have always been curious about to what extent, and also about aromatics during pregnancy. Thanks for the article!
Wonderful article. When I was nursing my daughter, she would refuse any bottle or sippy cup if I was in the house, even in a different room – she could smell me and knew I was around! Its really amazing.
Thanks for the great blog and post.
Hi Everyone:
The winner of the jasmine grandiflorum, beautiful and uplifting, diluted in organic grain alcohol, is Rae Lynn R. Rae Lynn, write me at anya@anyasgarden.com and send me your address.
To everyone else – I’ll be replying to your posts later today, thank you for the sharing! Maybe Hemla should write a book!
xoxo,
Anya
Hello everyone:
I am so delighted with all of pregnancy and birth scent experiences, and your stories of how it often carries over into decades of memories. In the future, know that your sharing will be read by many who search “pregnancy” and “fragrance, scent, perfume” and give them insights that only a sisterhood could share.
Jasmine grandiflorum is typically not used during pregnancy, but is used, with great effectiveness, during birth. It helps strengthen the contractions and easing the delivery. Anyone can research this further in books and by looking on the internet. Jasmine is highly valued and treasured by midwives for this reason.
xoxo,
Anya