Infant & Toddler Sleep Guide: Essential Oils For Babies
Contents
- 10 Essential Oils For Babies
- German Chamomile by Young Living
- Young Living Lavender Essential Oil
- Young Living Orange Essential Oil
- Young Living Rose Essential Oil
- Young Living Frankincense Essential Oil
- Barnhouse Baby Powder Premium Grade Fragrance Oil
- AlternaKids Relax and Sleep Aromatherapy Oils - Essential Oils for Children - Natural Sleep Aid Remedy - Peaceful Good Night
- Organic Peppermint Essential Oil – Premium 100% Pure, USDA Organic, Natural Therapeutic Grade
- Pure Lavender Essential Oil for Skin and Hair – Therapeutic Grade Essential Oil for Sleep – Stress Relief for Women and Men – Lavender Aromatherapy Oil for Anxiety
- Premium Quality Grade 100% Pure Lavender Aromatherapy Essential Oils
- Conclusion
- Sources
Any parent with an infant or toddler knows that a good night’s sleep for their baby is a blessing. Not only does this make for happy babies, but it makes for happy parents as well.
The amount of sleep your child needs lessens as they grow, with newborns needing 14-17 hours a day and toddlers aged 1-2 needing 11-14 hours, including naps, according to the CDC.
However, helping your baby get to sleep isn’t always the easiest task. Many parents wonder whether essential oils can help.
The honest answer: there's little research showing that scents improve sleep, and babies are more sensitive to essential oils than adults. Children have thin skin and immature livers, which may make them more vulnerable to toxic effects.
If you choose to use them, here's what to know.
10 Essential Oils For Babies
Can Essential Oils Actually Help Your Baby Sleep?
When you’re a new mother, it’s difficult to help your child get a good night’s sleep. No matter how much we soothe them, if a child suffers from sleep disruption, sometimes it can be difficult to deal with this very common problem.
Many adults use essential oils for sleep, but research on aromatherapy for sleep is limited, and studies in babies are scarce.
A calm bedtime routine, a dark room and a consistent schedule do far more for baby sleep than any scent.
The two oils parents ask about most are lavender and chamomile. Lavender is common in baby lotions for its scent, but there's no strong evidence it fixes sleep problems.
Chamomile has a calming reputation, but evidence in babies is lacking.
How You Should Use Them Safely With Children
Using essential oils around a baby can be dangerous if you don't do it right, so talk to your pediatrician first. Essential oils are very concentrated, so they need to be placed into a carrier oil, like almond oil, olive oil, jojoba oil, or coconut oil.
The carrier oil will help make sure that the concentrated essential oil is distributed evenly so that it does what it is supposed to do, and that it’s diluted properly. It will also make sure that the oil doesn’t evaporate too fast.
"Therapeutic grade" is a marketing term, not a regulated standard, and organic or all-natural oils are not automatically safe for babies.
Use far less than you would for yourself, always well diluted. Never put oils on a baby's face or hands or near the nose, never add undiluted oil to bath water, and don't run a diffuser for long periods in a baby's room.
Keep bottles locked away, since swallowed oils can cause serious poisoning. If a child swallows one, call Poison Control at 1-800-222-1222.
Don't use essential oils to treat colic, teething pain or tummy troubles. Ask your pediatrician about those, and get urgent care if your baby has trouble breathing or a fever under 3 months of age.
Essential Oils For Babies
German Chamomile by Young Living
Although chamomile is well known as a popular tea, chamomile essential oils could benefit your baby.
Talk to your pediatrician before using any essential oil around a baby, especially one under 3 months old.
In addition to its relaxing properties, chamomile has a wide variety of other uses.
Some parents use it for colic or constipation.
There's no good evidence it helps either, and essential oils should never be given by mouth. Always use it well diluted; a little goes a long way.
Young Living Lavender Essential Oil
Lavender is one of the most well-known essential oils, and has a wide variety of uses. It's particularly well known as a sleep aid, though evidence for that is limited.
Not only does the Lavender Essential Oil have a very pleasant scent, but it can help create a relaxing, stress-free environment.
This type of environment is essential to helping your baby get a good night’s sleep.
Don't put essential oils on a baby's broken skin. For diaper rash, a barrier cream such as zinc oxide is the usual choice.
Young Living Orange Essential Oil
Though the world can be a wonderful and exciting place, it often leaves babies and toddlers feeling overstimulated. Unfortunately, this can lead to them being unable to rest or relax.
Many parents like orange oil's cheerful scent.
If you diffuse it, use a drop or two for short periods in a ventilated room, not overnight.
Not only can Orange Essential Oil help relax your infant, but it can be mixed with water to scent a homemade surface cleaner.
Many reviews of this particular product rave about how wonderful the scent is.
It has been compared to the smell of a fresh-cut orange, clean and crisp without being over powering.
Young Living Rose Essential Oil
Rose Essential Oil has been produced in many parts of the world for over 1,000 years.
This popularity remains strong as this essential oil has many different properties and uses.
It's generally considered gentle, but no essential oil is risk-free for babies.
Its scent may feel soothing in the nursery.
Like the chamomile oil, rose oil is on the more expensive side.
This is because it takes a huge amount of rose petals to make a small bottle of oil. However, as with many oils, a little can go a very long way.
Young Living Frankincense Essential Oil
This particular oil may sound rather familiar as it was one of the gifts the Three Wise Men gave to baby Jesus in the Nativity story.
Some parents like its warm scent at bedtime.
For older children, this essential oil can be applied in a small diluted amount to their hair or clothing.
It won't treat coughs or breathing problems; see your pediatrician for those.
Barnhouse Baby Powder Premium Grade Fragrance Oil
Barnhouse Baby Powder Premium Grade Fragrance Oil is not an essential oil. It's a fragrance oil for diffusers and crafts, so keep it off your baby's skin.
For those who love the smell of baby powder, this fragrance oil will appeal.
The scent lasts a long time when diffused in an oil.
New moms will love this smell because it smells like cuddling your newborn baby.
If you like the scent, diffuse it briefly in another room rather than right next to your baby.
AlternaKids Relax and Sleep Aromatherapy Oils - Essential Oils for Children - Natural Sleep Aid Remedy - Peaceful Good Night
When you have a toddler, their world is full of stimulation and wonder that sometimes it can be hard to get them to settle down at night.
If you have a child that has sleep problem, you’ll do anything to help them sleep better.
AlternaKids has developed an essential oil using aromatherapy ingredients such as lavender, Roman chamomile, and patchouli to create a calming bedtime atmosphere.
AlternaKids Relax and Sleep Peaceful Good Night is an all-natural essential oil with no fillers or preservatives.
It may make bedtime feel calmer, but it can't guarantee your toddler will sleep through the night.
Organic Peppermint Essential Oil – Premium 100% Pure, USDA Organic, Natural Therapeutic Grade
Important: peppermint oil is not safe for babies. Menthol, a main part of peppermint oil, can interfere with a young child's breathing, and NCCIH says peppermint oil should not be inhaled by or applied to the face of an infant or small child.
If your baby is struggling to breathe or is very congested, call your pediatrician.
Organic Peppermint Essential Oil is USDA organic and a fine choice for adults.
Keep it out of the nursery and away from young children.
It won't cure a cold at any age.
Pure Lavender Essential Oil for Skin and Hair – Therapeutic Grade Essential Oil for Sleep – Stress Relief for Women and Men – Lavender Aromatherapy Oil for Anxiety
Lavender essential oil has many soothing properties. Many people find its scent relaxing.
Babies are more sensitive than adults, so it needs much more dilution and less frequent use for them.
You can use it as an aromatherapy oil to promote relaxation to help you or your baby fall and stay asleep, or as a diluted massage oil.
Always dilute it in a carrier oil, and patch test first.
Premium Quality Grade 100% Pure Lavender Aromatherapy Essential Oils
For those who love the smell of lavender, Premium Quality Grade 100% Pure Lavender Aromatherapy Essential Oils is a pure lavender oil that many people enjoy.
One of the best oils to put in a diffuser, it will surround you and your baby with the relaxing scent of lavender so you both can relax and fall asleep.
Diffuse it briefly before bedtime rather than all night.
Conclusion
Essential oils are not proven sleep aids for babies, and they are not supplements.
Labels like "all-natural" or "therapeutic grade" don't guarantee safety.
As always, when introducing a new product to your child, when using essential oils for the first time, parents should always keep a close watch for any possible allergic reactions.
If you use them, keep it gentle: brief, well diluted, away from your baby's face, and never peppermint or eucalyptus. Talk to your pediatrician about ongoing sleep problems.
Sources
- About Sleep, CDC
- Essential oils: Poisonous when misused, Poison Control (National Capital Poison Center)
- Peppermint Oil: Usefulness and Safety, NCCIH
- Aromatherapy, NCCIH
