Most essential oils are too harsh for your baby’s sensitive skin, but you can dilute and use certain mild ones to promote your little one’s relaxation and overall health. Parents wanting to use essential oils with their babies must exercise caution before exposing babies to these potent plant extractions.
As a preventative measure, always check with your baby’s doctor before using any essential oil, even the mild ones, or your little one, especially if either parent has a history of allergies.
Lavender
The sweet scent of this fragrant essential oil comes from the small, blue-purple flowers of the lavender plant (Lavandula angustifolia). Lavender is a mild essential oil appropriate for you to use with babies of all ages, including infants. Use lavender to calm and soothe your baby, especially right before bedtime.
Mix one to three drops of lavender essential oil in approximately 2 oz. of mild carrier oil, such as sweet almond oil, for massaging your baby. If you prefer to use a few drops of lavender in your baby’s bath water, always dilute it first in water or a carrier lotion. As an extra precaution, you pour the watered-down lavender through a coffee filter before adding it to your baby’s bath water.
Chamomile
The blooms of the chamomile plant (Matricaria recutita or Chamaemelum nobile) are the source of chamomile essential oil. Chamomile is a gentle herb commonly used to soothe babies suffering from various ailments. These include colic, fussiness, teething and irritability.
Consider using chamomile topically, alone or with lavender, for babies as young as 3 months. Use no more than three drops of chamomile in your baby’s bath water or mix with approximately 2 oz. sweet almond oil for massage. If you opt to use chamomile in combination with lavender for your baby’s massage or bath, don’t use more than three drops of essential oil total between the two different oils.
Calendula
Calendula essential oil comes straight from the blooms of the common marigold (Calendula officinalis). Although it’s fairly mild, you should not plan on using calendula essential oil until your baby is at least six months old, just to be safe. Candee points out that calendula soothes swollen, irritated skin, such as diaper rash, bumps, bruises, cuts and scratches, and has natural antibacterial qualities.
Use calendula topically to ease your baby’s skin ailments, diluting up to five drops in approximately 2 tbsp. of a mild base oil. Apply it directly to your baby’s irritated skin or add several drops of the calendula essential oil, always diluted first in water or a base lotion, to bath water to cleanse, soothe and moisturise your baby’s entire body.