When my little boy was born we had a bit of trouble with latching on at first and I started to get sore nipples so the nurses at the hospital gave me lanolin as a soothing option. I had brought in “boob ease,” an organic and vegan, nipple cream but the nurse wouldn’t comment if it was a good option or not.

I decided to use the lanolin instead of my cream since I figure it would likely be the same if not better since the nurse said it’s been used by moms forever. Being a brand new mom, I’ve been getting next to no sleep and hadn’t taken the time to research lanolin until now.

LANOLIN IS NOT VEGAN. To my horror, I discovered that lanolin is a sheep derived wax. It “is a wax secreted by the sebaceous glands of wool-bearing animals,” according to Wikipedia.

I freaked out when I discovered this and immediately switched to my vegan boob ease. Apparently, lanolin is not only not a vegan wax but can supposedly have pesticides in it too.

So, vegan moms and soon-to-be moms beware, lanolin has been used for a very long time, but is not something we want to expose our precious babies to.