How to Start Using Essential Oils with Children
There are various reasons we come to realize the value of using essential oils with our children. Some of the most common are:
A desire for safe + effective natural remedies.
To help our children/babies sleep better at night.
To create a safe, non-toxic home environment.
Even if you don’t fall in one of those three main categories, just know we come around to oils at one point or another. The biggest questions I get asked are around safety and how to know which ones to use and when (we will cover all of that). But first, if you’d like to know about my story and why I fell in love with these bottles of oils, you can find it under A Bit More on my About page.
So lets have a quick but important chat on safety concerns.
When we talk about using oils with children, we could be talking about a 2 year old child, a 13 year old child, or babies. So recommendations on how much to use and what to use is going to vary of course. I would recommend starting with a trusted essential oil reference guide, where you can look up specific ailments and see which oils to use and how. It’s impossible to know it all and a reference guidebook especially helpful if you’re just starting out. A few of my favorite references are the Essential Life app or book, and Modern Essentials guide.
Next, you’ll want to familiarize yourself with a dilution guide. As a good rule of thumb, whenever you are using essential oils with children topically you want to be sure to dilute. You’ll use some sort of a carrier oil with a few drops of essential oil, or make up a roller blend for easy application. Diluting essential oils does not dilute the efficacy of the oil, but helps protect the delicate skin and keeps the oils on the skin for better absorption.
Which carrier oil should you use to dilute essential oils?
Honestly, it’s whatever your preference, however I personally love to use fractionated coconut oil for it’s benefits to the skin. Fractionated coconut oil will remain a liquid even at colder temperatures, so it’s perfect for using in roller bottles. But you can use others such as jojoba, grape seed, or even olive oil.
Roller Bottle Dilution
(screenshot this!)
One of the most important safety concerns is essential oil quality and purity.
The majority of essential oils on the market today have added synthetics, fillers, or pesticides. There is NO GOVERNING BODY over the marketing claims that essential oil companies can make. Meaning you can find essential oils at the dollar store with 100% pure labels. But don’t let that scare you from this wonderful world of plant medicine. You just need to do a little research on the company/brand before you buy and look into their sourcing and purity standards. To save you some time, take a peek at sourcetoyou.com and see why we chose doTERRA oils for our family. doTERRA is the largest essential oil company in the world today with well over 10 million members.
What are the best essential oils to have to start with?
You’ll want to go back to the reason you are getting into essential oils with your family in the first place, but typically the most popular place to start for families is by getting your hands on the TOP TEN essential oils in a starter collection. The top ten oils usually cover many of the needs in your home whether it’s for natural remedies, better sleep, or creating that non-toxic home environment. It even includes a diffuser, which is a MUST HAVE for any family or individual. You can always grow your collection over time, but having the top ten is where I personally started and found easy to integrate into my family’s lifestyle.
Another easy start is with the Kids' Collection! These oils come in roller bottles for quick topical use and include some fun blends that support the body and some big emotions! The oils in this collection are Calmer, Steady, Brave, Stronger, Tamer (digestive blend), Rescuer and Thinker (blend to help with focus). I put together a custom starter kit that includes the complete Kids’ Collection of oil, as well as the Petal diffuser (that comes with two great kid oils, Wild orange + Lavender!). Click here to take you to my custom kids’ kit.
On my Essential Oils page I list all the starter collections, so if you browse those and find something that fits your budget. The most important thing is that you start. They are worth every penny.
If you’re on social, look me up! I’m always sharing the different ways I use oils with my kids. I love to share wellness tips and recipes, just anything that helps make it all easier. Be sure to say hey when you find me (social links are all at the bottom of the page)!
doTERRA Kids’ Collection of essential oils
