Essential oils are derived from varied flowers, herbs, and other plants. People at large use it in diffusers as well as use it for their massage purposes.

The article will focus on how beneficial the essential oils are of babies and are they safe or not. Get to know everything here!

Essential Oils for Babies

As per the evidence available, essential oils can benefit the babies on many grounds. However, how it might affect them, is not evidenced much.

The noteworthy point here is, American Association of Naturopathic Physicians don’t ever advice to use these essential oils for the babies who are just 3 months old or younger than that.

During the baby massage, people can use undiluted sunflower oil or grapeseed oil or diluted essential oils, etc. As per the studies, baby massage is quite beneficial for pre-term infants in terms of weight gain, decrease irritability, encourage development and sleep disturbances, etc. Though it’s not essential for the parents or caregivers to use a cream or oil for massaging purposes, it makes the whole process so easy as it smoothes up the hand glide over the skin.

Lavender Oil

As per the review report of 2016, lavender oil can help the babies in treating pain. The studies show that when the newborns smell lavender during a heel prick test, they experienced lower heart rate and less pain than before.

Another study gave results that colic symptoms can be appreciably reduced by having a lavender oil aromatherapy massage on babies.

Chamomile Oil

Chamomile oil is commonly used by the adults as a remedy for their sleeplessness and it might also help the infants.

If you look for scientific evidence, then you wouldn’t find evidence favoring chamomile aiding sleep, however, most of the people have found that just a few drops of this oil used in diffusers or in a warm bath, helped them get the sedative effect and calming their mind.

Sunflower Oil

For a carrier oil, sunflower oil is quite prevalent. It is enriched with linoleic acid that makes it a great choice for babies who have sensitive skin.

Usually, babies with a sensitive sky, get eczema. Eczema problem exists because of skin dehydration. As per the studies, sunflower oil can hydrate the skin in an impressive way, however olive oil can make the skin problems worst & damage the skin barrier.

How to Use!

A plethora of ways can be adopted to use essential oils for a baby. Some of those are:

Baby Massage

Though as per preferences of the baby, baby massage schedule varies, the following points can be considered for a good starting:

Take a small amount or a few drops of diluted oil into your hands and rub it properly to warm the oil.

Now benignly rub the baby’s skin with oil by starting from the legs. Use enough pressure to rub and gently move the skin.

To give massage to baby’s belly and chest, just as flattering a book’s pages, you need to spread your hands out to the baby’s side.

Baby Bath Water

Add a few drops of lavender or chamomile oil in the baby bathwater. This will help the baby to soothe and calm intensely. Also, it helps the baby to take a tight nap right after a bath.

Oil Diffuser at Bedtime

A wide array of oil diffusers are available in the market that releases essential oils into the air. Even you will get some having colored lights also that help the baby to sleep calmly.

To get the actual benefits and sheer privileges then you surely need to follow all the instructions, like keeping the whole room well-ventilated. You need to pick the oils with precision and don’t ever pick the oils that might prove harmful for the baby’s skin.

Are Essential Oils Safe to Use?

• Take appropriate carrier oil to dilute with essential oil.
• You should not use the oils around or on the babies younger than three months.
• For premature babies, you should hold using it until the completion of a minimum of 3 months after the due date.
• Undiluted essential oils should never be applied to babies & infants. For this, you need to dilute the essential oil beside a correct carrier oil, like, grapeseed oil, sunflower oil, and coconut oil.
• The essential oil should be diluted to just 0.5—2.5% as per NAHA- National Association for Holistic Aromatherapy.
• It’s not safe to drink or eat an essential oil.

Babies have soft & quite sensitive skin. This is the reason that people should avoid the use of skin irritants, like:

• Oregano
• Cumin
• Thyme
• Bay
• Citronella
• Clove bud
• Lemongrass
• Cinnamon bark or leaf
• Tagetes
• Lemon verbena

As per the researchers, people don’t use a carrier oil- olive oil as it can do skin damage.

NAHA strongly recommends to avoid using the below mentioned essential oils while breast-feeding or a pregnancy:

• Birch
• Basil
• Wormwood
• Parsley seed
• Camphor
• Sage
• Aniseed
• Wintergreen
• Tarragon

It's good to keep the essential oils out of a baby’s reach. One can apply the oil to the feet of the baby but take care that babies don’t put the feet into or keep near their mouths.

Essential oils need to be diluted perfectly before putting them in the diffuser. It will lower down the adverse respiratory reaction risks to a great extent.

In case the infants have the risk of asthma development or have asthma then aroma diffusers should not be used.

Takeaway

As per the studies of finding the effectiveness of aromatherapy for babies, it was found that some oils really have favorable impacts, such as chamomile and lavender oils.

Several oils are absolutely safe for use, provided the people are taking precautions seriously. These precautions subsume, not to use undiluted oil on babies and even keep it out of their reach.

Neither people nor babies should ingest the essential oils.

However, some oils can prove irritant & toxic for the baby’s skin. It makes it essential to research the oils thoroughly before using it and even speak to your doctor if you have any doubts regarding it.