As many of you know, I’m a big fan of essential oils (EOs). Actually, I’m oil-obsessed!
One of my major passions is empowering others with the information they need to safely enjoy the wellness benefits that my clients, loved ones, and I have received from using these healing compounds.
I have been receiving many wonderful questions from my oil community and have decided it’s time to start sharing them on my blogs for further discussion. In this way, I can also give a little more science behind my email responses, which needs to be more concise.
You are all welcome to chime in your experience in the comment section below. Let’s start a community and learn from each other!
Here is question 1: Can I diffuse essential oils around my infant? –
My answer:
Thanks so much for reaching out and for your interest in essential oils!
First, the obligatory disclaimer:
Although I can NOT legally make specific recommendations, prescribe, diagnose, or offer individualized suggestions, I’d love to provide you with some resources and information that you and your little one’s prescribing physician can review. I would advise reaching out to health care providers that can support you as well.
This being said, I believe diffusing is the best method to use for introducing essential oils to infants for several reasons.
- Newborns’ skin is still maturing for up to 3 months and their skin microbiome is learning tolerance to their new environment. This means that the critters lining their outsides are finding their optimal ratio balance and “setting up shop.” Keeping them happy and undisturbed is critical for healthy and symptom free skin throughout the years.
For this reason, I would highly suggest avoiding applying essential oils topically to preterm infants and babies younger than 4 months. Once you are comfortable with topical application, I have found that dilution is a must and feet are the best place. (Click here to read about dilution and carrier oils.)
- Essential oils are a lot safer option than toxic chemicals and aromas made from synthetics. Furthermore, they can cleanse the air and may protect our cells from the negative consequences of pollutants!
- The benefits of the smell of essential oils goes beyond their aroma and provides overall health benefits in many ways.
You just can’t get all those benefits from a toxic fragrance!!
In fact, studies are actually showing that scented candles and air fresheners can be toxic!!
For everyone who has little ones, I strongly recommend a critical time investment of about 20 minutes to listen to this safety video in its entirety. This video reviews the current understanding of the use of essential oils in infants and children and gives a good overview along with suggestions.
You will learn that it is a very controversial issue, but many aromatherapists agree, essential oils can be very helpful for infants and children. Please note that in this link the interviewee makes an incorrect statement that cultivation and organic do not make a difference with essential oils. This has been disputed in many studies. You can find them on my database under “Essential Oils Standardization and Quality.”
What About Using Them in Studies? Read more here and get additional resources for safety, learning more about the controversy, and diffusor recipes!
Disclaimer: This information is applicable ONLY for therapeutic quality essential oils. This information DOES NOT apply to essential oils that have not been tested for purity and standardized constituents. There is no quality control in the United States, and oils labeled as “100% pure” need only to contain 5% of the actual oil. The rest of the bottle can be filled with fillers and sometimes toxic ingredients that can irritate the skin.
This material is for information purposes only and is not intended to diagnose, treat, or prescribe for any illness. You should check with your doctor regarding implementing any new strategies into your wellness regime. These statements have not been evaluated by the FDA.
Images: Pixabay and MarketingScents
