Essential oils for Mum and Baby

Essential Oils have so many wonderful uses. Here and Live Lively, we love using essential oils to supplement a healthy lifestyle. Whether you pop a few drops of frankincense into your bath or roll lavender on the skin before bed, essential oils can be a wonderful way to incorporate a little extra self-care. When it comes to children, we have to be aware that a baby’s skin is significantly more sensitive than ours and while essential oils can come in handy, we need to be careful in how we use them.

The following blog post outlines some of our favourite ways to use essential oils for both mum and baby!

​Essential Oil Use on Children:

The key here is dilution. Due to the high concentration of essential oils, there can be some serious consequences when using essential oils without dilution. As a parent, it’s important to be aware that children and particularly sensitive when it comes to aroma, and products applied directly to the skin.

When pregnant or breastfeeding, dilution is also recommended.

Here are the typical dilution rules:

• 2-6 years (0.25% dilution) - 1 drop of oil per 4 teaspoons of carrier oil
• over 6 years (1% dilution) - 1 drop of oil per teaspoon of carrier oil
• average healthy adult (2% dilution) - 2 drops per teaspoon of carrier oil

Carrier oils include fractionated coconut oil, jojoba oil, or almond oil.

Avoid essential oils like eucalyptus, rosemary on children under 10, and peppermint for children under 6. It is not recommended that essential oils be used topically, or inhaled by babies before the age of six months.

However, post-six months, the diffusion of child-safe essential oils for a specific purpose for short periods of time is okay!

Consider essential oils like:

• bergamot
• clary sage
• frankincense
• lavender
• lemon
• sandalwood
• sweet orange
• tea tree

Note: cleaning with essential oils which are typically identified as ‘unsafe for kids’ is okay. Just be sure that they aren’t in the room and that the room is kept child-free for a few minutes which the essential oils evaporate. Read more about how we use essential oils in our homemade cleaning products here!

​Now that we’ve clarified the recommendations about essential oil use, let’s share some of our top uses!

1. Bath Time Bliss: we love adding lavender and frankincense to our evening baths. My niece, at 11 months, who was over during Christmas enjoyed an evening bath with a drop of essential oil in the bath water. We love using lavender and frankincense as they are perfect for bedtimes, and the frankincense is gorgeous for the skin.

2. Facial Cloths: we’ve shared in a previous blog post how we love to keep a container of rolled flannels soaking in our fridge. As the weather gets cooler, we’ve been warming our flannels up in the microwave so they’re a lovely mid-day or after-work treat! We use essential oils like lavender, lemon, and peppermint (post-workout and adults only). Once warmed, they’re a beautiful way to open your pores and refresh the skin before you do your skincare routine and head to bed!

3. Diffusion: coming into a room which is freshly scented is one of the best ways to finish a day. Not to mention diffusing essential oils in the bedroom for a great night’s sleep. We love our diffuser and have happily got them all over the house at this point! We mix up the oils depending on the room, usually, we love to diffuse our favourite Isagenix blends!

4. Roller Application: I’ve even managed to convert my boyfriend with this one. It’s hard to beat the good night’s sleep you get once you apply essential oils to the skin with some fractionated coconut oil. Essential oil rollers are really common now, or you can also make your own by checking out this post of ours. Whether it’s the habit of rolling your pressure points prior to jumping into bed, or the essential oils themselves there’s something about this that just works!

5. Self Care Treats: check out our blog post here about our room sprays, shower diffusers, and bath salts for the perfect pamper which every parent deserves.

For more about the Isagenix Essential Oils range, click here to be referred to our information page. Or, to purchase your own essential oils, carrier oil or diffuser click on the links throughout the page to be referred to our Isagenix Website.


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