Essential Oils for Healthy Kids
With today's hectic schedules and family lives, parents welcome effective natural wellness alternatives to support their child's health and happiness. Essential oils offer simple, effective means to calm kids down, give them quality rest, and support healing the little injuries of childhood through natural means. There's a great many essential oils available with a wonderful variety of healing actions.
Here we'll have a look at five oils commonly used to support children's health, and simple ways to incorporate them into your lifestyle. We'll begin with a few tips on using oils with children and infants. There are three primary methods of using oils with little ones: Topical application through massage or applying directly to wounds or sores; Inhalation from a handkerchief, spray bottle, warm bowl of water, the bed sheets, or diffuser; and Baths, which actually combines the topical and inhalation methods. The main difference in using essential oils with children and adults is that children will simply need smaller amounts.
There are a few oils that should not be used with children - peppermint, for example, is considered too powerful for the wee ones under two (spearmint is called for instead, which can be helpful with tummy trouble). Ask someone with experience if you are unsure about a particular oil. The dosages and dilutions used for children are generally significantly lower than those used with adults. Dilutions for caring touch massage can start as low as 1 drop per ounce of carrier (hazelnut is excellent for most applications) for newborns, moving up approximately 1 drop per year, within a range of about 3 drops per ounce. For example, a massage blend for a four year old might contain anywhere from 3 to 6 drops of essential oil per ounce, depending on the oil and the child. Oils like Lavender, Roman Chamomile and Vanilla are exceptionally gentle - more could be used without worry.
An oil like Rose, while wonderful for children, is fairly potent, and using a little less may be prudent. The child's weight and overall condition can also be considered; a child that is big for their age could use slightly higher amounts of essential oil, whereas a child that is week from illness could use a little less. So what are these few important essential oils we've alluded to? We'll start with Vanilla...Mmmm, everyone loves vanilla, right? It turns out that babies especially respond well to the comforting sweet aroma. While a good vanilla essential oil is a little expensive, only a very small amount is needed to create an exceptionally soothing massage oil for belly, back and foot rubs. Vanilla, being so gentle, can be used in concentrations of up to 1% (that's 10 drops per ounce of carrier). Really all that's needed is a hint of the aroma for it to work wonders. I've received reports of children being instantly calmed by a gentle vanilla massage, then immediately asking for more!
Another highly regarded oil for relieving stressful moments is Roman Chamomile. Its sweet herbaceous aroma is also very gentle, being noted particularly useful to calm tantrums or soothe after nightmares. A drop or two of Chamomile can be massaged undiluted into the solar plexus for quick effect. For an aromatic bath, first blend the appropriate number of drops as noted above into one tablespoon of carrier oil. Add this to the bathwater after the bath is drawn to best retain the aroma (otherwise it may all evaporate as the tub is filling). Chamomile (and Lavender) makes a great room spray; just add 5-10 drops per cup of water in a spray bottle, shake well then mist the air. True Lavender essential oil (Lavendula angusitifolia) is wonderful for its soothing effects as well, along with a great variety of other healing actions. It is an excellent remedy for small burns, applied directly to the area, undiluted.
For small cuts and scrapes, Lavender may be used alone, or in a 50/50 blend with Tea Tree for added antiseptic properties. Lavender supports sleep, and is an excellent choice for diffusing in the evening time. Lavender may also be used in a bath, and is the first choice for a gentle foot rub. For a good night's rest, blend 2 to 1 with Roman Chamomile, diluting as needed depending on the child and application method. For brightening sour moods, the aromas of sweet citrus oils are unmatched. Children especially enjoy Tangerine; Mandarin (a Tangerine variety) has an additional calming action not found in any other essential oil. Mandarin oil is either cold-pressed from the peels of the fruit, or steam distilled from the leaves of the tree (known as Mandarin Petitgrain).
The cold pressed oil is excellent for aromatic use (in a diffuser or room spray), and the steam distilled variety is recommended for baths and in body oil blends. Care should be taken with using any cold pressed citrus essential oil on the skin, as they will make the skin more sensitive to UV rays for the following day or two where it has been applied. Citrus oils should not be avoided for this reason, just consider if your child will be bundled up in the darker days of winter, or building sand castles at the beach!
Finally, there's Tea Tree essential oil. Tea Tree is considered a universal antiseptic, replacing that stinging Iodine solution that grandmother always seemed to have on hand. Tea Tree oil can still be a little strong for the younger ones if applied directly; blend with Lavender as noted above for these cases. A few drops of the Tea Tree and Lavender blend can be added to a warm bowl of water for an effective, soothing wash for cuts and scrapes. Also, a natural antiseptic spray can be mixed and used as needed. Use two ounce of pure water and one half ounce of rubbing alcohol. To this, add 8 drops each of Chamomile and Lavender, plus 12 drops Tea Tree; shake before each use. Tea Tree has a great many additional uses, and like Lavender, is useful to always keep on hand. This is just a quick overview on caring for children with essential oils. Once you get started, you're likely to find these and other oils are a safe, effective means to naturally support your child's health and happiness.
As your knowledge and experience grows, you'll find there are aromatherapy remedies for many common childhood ailments. In much of the rest of the world, essential oils are considered potent medicines, deserving a place in everyone's medicine chest. There are many great books on aromatherapy, with loads of information and recipes to get you started. Just remember, when using essential oils with children start slowly, and with small amounts; their response to certain oils and concentrations will likely tell you about the oil's effectiveness. When used with care and respect, essential oils can become a much appreciated part of your natural health and wellness lifestyle.