We discussed this last year on LN. Here is my post from then.
Subject:
peppermint water
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Date:
Sat, 21 Apr 2007 15:22:37 -0400
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There are several important points that came to my mind as I read this
study. First, the study was conducted in a part of Iran where the use
of peppermint water is standard household practice. As a matter of
fact, it states that mothers were instructed to use ONLY the peppermint
water provided to them and not to mix their own. So, if it is routine
practice for you to use peppermint water and you are not using it
(obviously you know you are applying breastmilk), then how does this
impact the mind-body connection, or in this case, the nocebo effect as
it relates to the mothers' expectations in preventing (or not
preventing) nipple pain?
Further, peppermint oil has numerous positive effects on the body, all
of which may be induced through trans-dermal application or inhalation,
so it would be difficult to tease out which of these might impact the
mothers' perceptions of well-being. Peppermint is used for nausea,
headaches, insomnia, colic or flatulence and to strengthen the nervous
system. Infants ingesting the peppermint might be equally affected in a
positive way, which might account for the extended duration of feeding
for babies whose mothers used peppermint--you cannot wash off an
essential oil!
Which leads to another question--peppermint water needs to be
preserved if it is to be kept for two weeks, and as I could not open
the link giving the mixing instructions, I wonder what preservative
might have been used. A common one is chloroform water and that is
actually standard for the British Pharmacopoeia in the compounding of
peppermint water (for colic). I would wonder, though, if any
preservative would be used in the average household--I have certainly
never mixed peppermint water for extended use--it is so simple to remix
and I usually just add the oil to a bath for fever or apply
transdermally for stomach pain.
Another thing that occurred to me is that the use of peppermint oil
from birth might be preventative of thrush and that might be another
reason why you might see less nipple trauma.
So, overall, as I see this study--the fact that women would expect
peppermint oil to prevent pain and they are/are not using it knowingly
might well have an effect on pain perception and possibly frequency and
duration of breastfeeding. Knowing the properties of peppermint, it
would be no surprise to me that one might see the published outcome,
maternal expectations aside. One must consider the potential benefit to
the infant of the qualities of peppermint oil in a full assessment. It
is probably a good idea to be supportive (or at least to reserve
judgment) of many of the traditional practices that have developed in
various cultures to support breastfeeding. It might even be a really
good idea to consider the value of such practices, especially when they
rely on less invasive or harmful practices than might otherwise be
employed.
I think the most interesting bit to me is that we have a tendency to
dismiss folk remedies and habits and evaluate them outside of their
frame-of-reference and employ in-vitro applications that are
far-removed from in-vivo realities. This study may have done a better
job in this regard.
Jennifer Tow, IBCLC, CT, USA
Intuitive Parenting Network LLC
End of LACTNET Digest - 20 Jun 2008 - Special issue (#2008-688)
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