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dōTERRA | Essential Oils and Children

Essential Oils and Kids: Ensuring Safe Use

Whether you have used essential oils for a long time, or you are just starting out, parents are often concerned about using essential oils on children. Although children are smaller and generally more sensitive than adults, it is still possible for the entire family to enjoy essential oils on a daily basis. On this page we will go over several safety guidelines that will allow you to safely use essential oils at home with your children—allowing your whole family to reap the benefits that essential oils have to offer. Keep in mind that it is important to consult with your child’s physician about any specific health concerns or conditions before you start using essential oils on your child.

Yes, Essential Oils are Safe for Children!

Effective use over thousands of years

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Natural and safe when used properly

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dōTERRA® testing and safety processes

The best way to ensure that you are using essential oils properly with your children is to educate yourself. Remember, the way you use essential oils for yourself is different from how you will use them on your children, so be sure to thoroughly read labels and instructions, and educate yourself before applying a product or oil to your child. Let’s go over a few general safety guidelines that are important to remember when using essential oils with children.

Safety Tip: Doses and Dilutions

The most important thing to remember when using essential oils on children is that kids are not tiny adults—they have a much lower body mass, and they are still developing, so their bodies and skin are far more sensitive than ours.  Essential oils, especially dōTERRA essential oils are extremely potent, so a little goes a long way, particularly when dealing with children.

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As you can see from this chart, children require a much smaller dose of essential oils than adults when it comes to aromatic, topical, and internal use.

Safety Tip: Avoid Sensitive Areas

While a child’s body is overall more sensitive than an adults, it is important to avoid certain areas, especially when applying essential oils topically to the skin. Because there are some areas that should be avoided, it is important that you are always the one who applies essential oils to your young children, and supervise any older children during application.

The sensitive areas to be avoided when applying essential oils to the skin are​:

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     Eyes, skin around the eyes

 

     Broken or damaged skin

 

     Inner nose, ears

Safety Tip: Sunlight Sensitivity

Because children spend a lot of time outside, it is important to remember that some essential oils can cause skin sensitivity after time in the sun. Any oils that have the potential for sunlight sensitivity will typically have a warning, but it is important to know that most citrus oils will cause sensitivity if worn in the sunlight. Be sure to carefully check each essential oil product for warnings—those with sunlight sensitivity cautions suggest that you stay out of the sun or UV rays for up to 12 hours after applying the product.

Citrus oils

 

Check warnings and labels

 

Avoid sunlight or UV rays for up to 12 hours after applying a product with sunlight sensitivity warning

Safety Tip: Safe Storage

One of the most important safety guidelines when it comes to using essential oils in a home with kids is to keep the oils out of the reach of children. It is hard for children to understand how potent and powerful essential oils are, or that some essential oils shouldn’t be taken internally. Just as you wouldn’t keep medicine or other potentially harmful substances within your child’s reach, it is important to safely store your essential oils so that your kids can’t get to them.

doTERRA products designed for children

dōTERRA Touch® Kit

As we discussed, it is best to dilute essential oils with a carrier oil before applying them on children. The dōTERRA Touch Kit saves you a step, because it comes in a base of dōTERRA Fractionated Coconut oil to make essential oil application easy for adults or children with sensitive skin.

 

Not only are the dōTERRA Touch oils already diluted, but they come in 10 mL roll-on bottles that make them so easy to apply.

 

The dōTERRA Touch Kit includes some of the most popular dōTERRA oils: dōTERRA Breathe® Touch, Deep Blue® Touch, DigestZen® Touch, Frankincense Touch, Lavender Touch,  Melaleuca Touch, dōTERRA On Guard® Touch, Oregano Touch and Peppermint Touch

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