Cough sweets in pregnancy

[eastegg]

I've just spent an hour googling this and am now just confused. Are cough sweets with menthol and eucalyptus in them OK in pregnancy or not? Specifically I've been having Jakemans throat and chest sweets, the black ones. A couple a night for the past 5 days or so.
A Boots Pharmacist got me thinking by saying I couldn't have Olbas Oil because of essential oils. I normally breath in loads of the stuff in hot water when I have a cough and am racking my brains whether I did that early in this pregnancy (I'm 14 weeks), I haven't done it during this particular cold, just a drop on a hanky and not very often. It's more the sweets I'm worried about now.

Any ideas?

[squishee]

Worrying might be more harmful.

[doodlejump1980]

You're not putting them up your foof are you? Cos that's not how they work.

[eastegg]

It might be squish, but it would be nice to know that they're OK as they help me get some sleep. I'm generally quite a sensible preg person but tendency to worry has ramped up since losing my last baby at 16 weeks. Pharmacist so hard line about essential oils it has really got me thinking.
I'll just avoid for now and mention to midwife, hey it's only sleep!

[squishee]

Sorry to hear that east.
I understand better now.
Perhaps ask the same pharmacist then?

[eastegg]

Thanks, I can't ask the same one as I was miles away from home for work but I will ask my local one this morning. Thanks. Friday night googling a bad idea!

[arbrighton]

It's not blanket on all essential oils OP. Pharmacist probably being OT there.

Olbas oil pack said 'try not to use non-essential medicines while pregnant' but I put some on my pillow etc with the stinking cold as the hacking and coughing and not sleeping would have been more detrimental.

things like halls soothers have no essential oils but work quite well and you can get dry cough syrup which is honey, lemon and glycerin which will be fine unless you're diabetic.

I was about 14 weeks when I had the cold, now 17+4

[RachaelCatWhisperer]

I have had the most beastly cough for a couple of weeks. Actually I think it is two different bugs back to back because I had a few days off, felt fine for a few days, and now I've got a dry cough and sinus congestion.

Desperate for some relief so I was reading up on natural remedies and found a recipe for cough syrup. I have to say it's surprisingly effective so I thought I'd share the recipe.

1/4 cup lemon juice
1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
3 tbsp honey
1tsp ginger

Mix together in a saucepan. Bring to book and simmer for a few minutes. Pour into a jam jar. Take 2 tsp as needed.

The recipe I read had 1/2 tsp cayenne and 1/2 tsp ginger but I didn't have any cayenne so I doubled the ginger. If anyone tries the cayenne let me know what it's like!

Also, don't underestimate the power of steam inhalation.

Hope everyone feels better soon xxx

[eastegg]

Thanks for the replies.

Local Superdrug pharmacist said I would be best to avoid the ones I've been having ie the Jakemans with eucalyptus oil in, but reassured me the amounts in them must be tiny. Still, I wish I hadn't had them now!

He also said inhaling Olbas in hot water is ok as long as you don't go mad. I had noticed what it said on the Olbas label, which is not helpful. I had in any case carried on putting a few drops on a hanky etc as I'm relaxed about that.

It was just actually ingesting eucalyptus oil I started to get a bit concerned about, having already done it! Oh well..

For anyone else interested and for future reference, perhaps the most definitive and reliable thing I read was on the 'bumps' website which the nhs website links to, which said that the amount of essential oils in 'food and drink' (assuming that includes cough sweets) are likely to be too small to do any harm in pregnancy. I think I will just go with that thought and stop worrying....

[RachaelCatWhisperer]

I had to go to out of hours last night, and the doctor there said halls soothers are fine. He also recommended something called Friar's Balsam, which you put into hot water and inhale the steam.