When it comes to using our ‘Big Gun’ essential oils with kids under the age of 12, there are a few important things that we need to know about how they interact with young bodies.
What tends to happen is that at the first sign of a sniffle in children, out comes the Oregano or On Guard to stop that sniffle in it’s tracks.
Whilst this is all well and good for adults, for kids it’s a bit of different story and this is why.
{ I’ll just preface this by saying that this opinion is based on my own research and Tisserands research. From that, I’ve formed what I feel is an educated opinion that makes perfect sense to me }
When we are born earth side, we are provided with the hardware for an immune system but not so much in the way of software.
A lot of that software which is needed for a healthy immune system comes through exposure to the environment, bacteria and pathogens.
Some of you may be familiar with something called the ‘Hygiene Hypothesis‘ – basically it implies that our desire to be squeaky clean and germ free at all times prevents a child’s immune system from developing fully and being uploaded with all the software it needs to function properly.
A super sanitised environment where bacteria is put to death as quickly as it arrived, inhibits our body from gathering the data it needs from the external world in those early days to input to our software system.
How do we develop immunity….. our body learns from past exposure and that’s how it recognises ‘friend or foe’.
Our innate immune system learns through these exposures so that the body can produce antibodies and recognise future attacks from the same pathogens.
This is why letting kids roll around in the dirt and get up close and personal with pets is so crucial to a thriving and well rounded immune system.
With this in mind, specifically for children, it’s not necessarily appropriate to lean on the powerhouse ‘Big Gun’ essential oils that fall into the Phenol rich category such as Oregano, Clove, Cinnamon, Thyme and Cassia.
Using these oils when a snotty nose appears isn’t necessarily the best approach. Inhibiting a child from experiencing a common cold for example could potentially lead to allergies and autoimmune concerns developing later in life.
Without the opportunity to take note of and react to pathogens, the immune system cannot create the necessary memory cells that help children fight off recurrent attacks.
I know we desperately don’t want to see our children unwell or suffering but sometimes nature needs to run it’s course and the best thing we can do is support their comfort levels.
There are some incredible alternatives to these powerhouse oils that are no less effective but go about their work in a much more subtle and gentle way.
Rose is the most perfect example of this along with Litsea, Cedarwood, Bergamot, Arborvitae, Spikenard, Lavender, Tea Tree, Lemon, Copaiba and Frankincense to name a few.
Rose has a tremendous amount of strength against gram positive and negative bacteria whilst being very gentle on the body and skin. You can read more about it’s properties in this article by Happy DIY Home.
All of these essential oils will go a long way to easing the severity of an illness and make them more comfortable which is what every parent wants.
Have a look at the oils used in the Stronger blend created for the incredible doTerra Kids Collection……
You’ll see that there are none of those Phenol rich, heavy hitting essential oils and instead, gentler immune supporting oils are present including Rose.
That’s why the Kids Collection is so so good for little ones and we’re incredibly grateful to doTerra for providing this wonderful kit to us.
Please fret not if you have been reaching for these powerhouse oils. There is no need to worry and everything is fine
Just the fact that you have chosen to support your family with natural solutions rather than over the counter options has set them in such good steed. I hope you know that.
As more and more research comes to light around the myriad powers of plants, our knowledge base is only going to continue to expand and so how we use them is going to change, evolve and adapt.
Remember that the range of oils we have at our fingertips with doTerra expands well beyond the top ten essential oils and becoming familiar with the diversity of our range is an act of empowerment.
The Kids Collection is a fantastic addition for any young family, doTerra have done such a brilliant job with the creation of those blends.
For those that love having a little nerd out session, do go download the doTerra Chemistry eBook and Chemistry Wheel using the links below because they are amazing 🙂
I hope that makes sense to everyone but if you’ve got questions, pop them below for me as I would love to hear from you.
x Bec
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