Lanolin and Breast Feeding. Bahhhd! by Dr. Michele Brown
We want to thank Dr. Michele Brown for sharing the following info with us below. We have discovered that this topic is slightly controversial (especially because it involves the sale of product and which products are best). We desire for our readers to be informed and updated with current topics that we feel would be of interest to them. Please feel free to chime in with any research or thoughts you might have on this in the comments section. ~Heather and the Mom 4 Life team
From Dr. Michele Brown: As you may know, most breast feeding women are sent home from the hospital, after giving birth, with a lanolin-based product to help relieve their sore, chapped nipples. As a physician and OBGYN, I am very concerned about this and want to send you this warning about lanolin based products.
The first thing you need to know is that pesticides have not one, BUT TWO, ways of getting into lanolin-based nipple gels and creams. It all begins with sheep—as lanolin comes from the sebaceous glands of these animals.
- Lanolin is an animal based product, 100% cholesterol, and is taken from sheep that graze on grass that is treated with pesticides.
- Sheep are often drenched with a chemical that prevents parasite infections. This chemical gets absorbed into the wool and oil glands of the sheep. After the sheep is shorn, the wool is sent to a special chemical scouring bath to separate the lanolin from the wool.
Once processed, lanolin is then concentrated and sold to companies that create creams, ointments, and cosmetics.
Several studies have demonstrated that there are residual pesticides in lanolin-containing compounds IN SPITE of purification by the companies that produce it.
This means that lanolin that is purified most likely will have residual pesticides both from the wool and from the grass that the sheep graze.
Therefore, when a new mother breast feeds using lanolin-based products, her infant may be getting trace amounts of these harmful chemicals. In addition, some women have wool allergy and will react to lanolin based products. Religious women who cannot have milk with animal products also cannot use lanolin. Lanolin is also a dark brown, greasy and smelly gel and is known to stain undergarments and bed linens.
I have developed an omega 3 fatty acid plant based, colorless and odorless gel with calendula officinalis. This herb is a well known remedy that is antibacterial, antifungal, and helps to prevent mastitis. This gel is moisturizing and soothing to the nipples and does not need to be wiped off prior to feeding. It is colorless and odorless and does not stain clothing.
All of my products have been pretested on hundreds of pregnant women and all ingredients have been carefully screened on physician only databases for safety. I have given out free sample packets to every delivered patient at Stamford Hospital with fantastic success and wonderful comments.
Happy breast feeding!
Dr. Michele Brown
OBGYN and Founder of Beauté de Maman
Buy Beauté de Maman Nipple Gel
Pregnancy is an exciting and rewarding time filled with awe and wonder. It's also a time of significant physiological and hormonal changes to a woman's body that are unique to this special moment in her life. These changes can cause pregnancy-related health problems that affect organs, hair, skin, muscles, bones and the nutritional status of the mother-to-be. Remedies for pregnancy-related health problems must be carefully selected to ensure the utmost safety of both mother and fetus, and the choice of natural and herbal products is critical.
Since the opening of her practice in 1982, Yale-trained Dr. Michele Brown, a practicing obstetrician, has been in the unique position to observe thousands of her own patients as they struggle to find safe remedies to help them cope with these pregnancy-related difficulties.
Not satisfied with the current offerings on the market, she worked closely with an organic chemist and expert in the field of product development and technology for the cosmetic industry to develop a line of health and beauty products safe for use by women during pregnancy.
"My experience as a board-certified obstetrician allowed me access to information only available to medical professionals, so I was able to conduct extensive research on the ingredients in my products," said Dr. Brown. Her large obstetrical practice allowed her to test them for effectiveness, consistency and reliability and to make improvements based on patients' suggestions.
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