Clary Sage Oil While Breastfeeding: What the Sources Cover

We cannot tell you clary sage oil is fine while breastfeeding, because the database nursing clinicians use has no entry for it and no study has measured it in milk. What exists is adjacent: entries for sage, lavender and peppermint, plus an official French recommendation to avoid essential oils entirely while nursing. This article lays out what each source actually says, so you can take a specific question to a lactation consultant or pharmacist.

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Step one: what the nursing database says about clary sage (nothing)

The US National Library of Medicine's Drugs and Lactation Database (LactMed) is the standard reference for what is known about a substance in nursing mothers. We searched PubMed, where LactMed entries are indexed, on 23 October 2026 for LactMed entries with "clary" in them and found none. We also searched PubMed for "clary sage" combined with breastfeeding, lactation, breast milk or postpartum and found no records. That is a statement about our search, not proof that nothing exists in the wider world, but it means there is no clary sage entry to quote, and anything online claiming a LactMed verdict on clary sage is not from that database.

Step two: the three nearest entries, and why none transfers

Sage (Salvia officinalis): a different plant

The LactMed sage entry (revised 15 July 2025) covers common sage, whose oil contains thujone and camphor. It says sage purportedly reduces lactation, that no scientific studies could be located on its effect on milk supply, and that "no data exist on the safety of sage in nursing mothers or infants". It also warns that sage is often misidentified or adulterated. Clary sage is another species in the same genus, and its oil is built mainly from linalyl acetate and linalool instead (68.28% and 14.81% on average in a 2024 EFSA panel opinion). So the traditional "sage dries up milk" story is about a different chemistry and was never tested. Our sage comparison explains the split. The practical consequence is that "clary sage lowers milk supply" is an untested extrapolation, and so is "it does not".

Lavender: same main molecules, one explicit warning

The LactMed lavender entry (revised 15 November 2024) lists linalyl acetate and linalool among lavender's components, says "no data exist on the safety and efficacy of lavender in nursing mothers or infants", and states that lavender oil has estrogenic and antiandrogenic activity, so topical application around the breast should be avoided. Reasoning from shared components, the practical consequence is to keep any scented oil off the breast and nipple area; that is an inference, because the lavender caution is about lavender and nobody has tested clary sage the same way. The question of whether clary sage has hormone-like activity is its own topic, covered in our estrogen article.

Peppermint: the only entry with transfer data

The LactMed peppermint entry (revised 15 October 2026) says menthol and 1,8-cineole are excreted into breastmilk in small quantities, and that the excretion of other components has not been studied. It also says that if peppermint is used on the nipples, it should be used after nursing and wiped off before the next feed. The Tisserand Institute describes the study behind the menthol figure: Hausner et al. (2008) gave 18 nursing mothers 100 mg of menthol in capsules on three consecutive days, and small amounts of menthol were measured in milk over the next eight hours. That was an oral dose, of a different molecule, and milk production was not reported.

What that adds up to, as reasoning

We have one documented route (oral menthol reaching milk) and no clary sage data. Our oils are not for swallowing, so the interesting routes for a nursing parent are skin and air. Reasoning from the peppermint finding, small molecules in an oil can reach milk when they are swallowed; whether they do from a diluted skin application or from a diffuser, at what level, and with what effect on an infant, is unmeasured for clary sage. Several things follow, each labelled as reasoning, not as a finding:

Where authorities differ

France's agency ANSES and the French Poison Control Centers recommended that pregnant or breastfeeding women not use essential oils, and that anyone ask a pharmacist first, according to the Tisserand Institute's reading of that notice. Robert Tisserand's response there is that the cautions for asthma sufferers and pregnant or breastfeeding women are "reasonable", but he is "not sure that complete avoidance of essential oils is necessary". These are positions, not trial results, and neither names clary sage. We cannot referee them. We can say that our own pages tell pregnant readers to avoid the oil, make no claim for breastfeeding, and say to keep the oil away from children.

Who should skip it

If your milk supply is a concern, skip any experiment with a Salvia oil until a lactation consultant (IBCLC) has talked it through; LactMed's sage entry records a traditional belief about supply, and the peppermint entry notes that peppermint is used to suppress milk in some settings, so herbal oils can be tied to supply in the literature even without trials. If your baby has eczema, a reactive airway or was born early, ask the pediatrician before scenting the room or your skin. If you are postpartum and have been told to avoid fragrance, follow that.

Questions worth taking to the appointment

A specific question gets a better answer than "is it okay?". Useful ones, built from the gaps above:

  1. We are considering a clary sage oil diluted to 0.5% to 2% in a carrier oil, on our own skin away from the chest. Is any part of that a problem for my baby's age and health?
  2. Would you want me to wait until feeding is established, or until weaning, given how little is known about oils and milk supply?
  3. If the baby is near a diffuser, is there a reason to avoid it for this child?

Bring the bottle's label and, for the Purity oil, its Certificate of Analysis, so the pharmacist sees what is in it. For the Botanical oil, our page does not state the species, so ask us if identity matters.

The people who can answer a nursing-specific question about this oil are an IBCLC, your pharmacist and your baby's pediatrician. We sell two clary sage oils for adult scent and craft use and have no product for lactation.

Clary Sage Essential Oil bottle

Clary Sage Essential Oil

Clary Sage Essential Oil from our own shop, in sizes from 0.5 oz to bulk.

From $19.99

Shop Now →

Sources & Further Reading