Pregnant and Curious About Clary Sage Oil?
If you are pregnant and curious about clary sage oil, our short answer is the one we give on our own bottle: avoid it during pregnancy. The longer answer is more interesting, because the sources do not say much beyond that, and it helps to know why.
Clary Sage Essential Oil
Our own Clary Sage Essential Oil, in sizes from 0.5 oz to bulk.
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Shop Now →What the cautious sources say
The retailer Tisserand Aromatherapy is direct on its clary sage page: avoid clary sage in pregnancy, and consult your healthcare professional before using essential oils during pregnancy and nursing (Tisserand clary sage page). We agree, and it is the same line we take. That is a precaution rather than the result of a trial, and it is a sensible one for an oil with a long reputation for acting on the body.
What has been measured
The human research on clary sage and pregnancy is small and sits at the very end of pregnancy. In a 2017 Japanese pilot, 11 women at 38 to 40 weeks inhaled diluted clary sage oil or a control for 20 minutes. No uterine contractions were seen in either group and the protocol had no negative effects, but the group was far too small to call anything a safety finding (Tadokoro et al., 2017). A 2023 follow-up with 82 women used a footbath containing clary sage and lavender oils. Oxytocin rose within that group but not significantly more than in the control group (Tadokoro et al., 2023).
Two things stand out. Both studies were at term, so nothing here speaks to earlier pregnancy. And one of them mixed two oils, so the result cannot be credited to clary sage. In practice that means there is no published evidence we could point to that says clary sage is fine in pregnancy, which is a good reason to stay cautious.
Diffuser, skin or bath?
It is natural to wonder whether a diffuser in the next room is gentler than oil on the skin. Reasoning from the sources, they are different kinds of exposure, but we found nothing that ranks them for clary sage, so we do not offer "just a diffuser" as a loophole. If your provider approves a use, ask for the exact amount and method in writing instead of calculating it yourself. Our oil is sold undiluted, so the math would be yours to get right.
Questions worth bringing to your appointment
- I am at ___ weeks. Is any essential oil acceptable for me right now, and does that change later in pregnancy?
- Does anything in my history make aromatherapy a poor idea altogether?
- If I use a diffuser, is the concern the same as with skin?
- Does anything I take, such as blood pressure medicine or sedatives, matter here?
- If I am breastfeeding afterward, what is your advice then?
About starting labor
Clary sage often comes up here, so we gave it its own page: our labor article goes through the studies and what the NHS says about starting labour. For later months, see breastfeeding, and for skin reactions in general, side effects. Keeping the oil away from little ones is covered in our children and safety page.
Pregnancy is a time for asking the people who know your history. A quick call to your midwife or OB-GYN will tell you more than any bottle label, ours included.
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
- Tisserand Aromatherapy. Clary Sage Essential Oil, safety information.
- Tadokoro Y et al., 2017. Salivary oxytocin after inhalation of clary sage oil in term-pregnant women. BMC Res Notes.
- Tadokoro Y et al., 2023. Salivary oxytocin after an aromatherapy footbath in term pregnant women. Int J Environ Res Public Health.