Babies & Essential Oils: Swimming in Emotion

“Did you feel that?! Oh my goodness!”

Mothers and fathers tear up with emotion as they feel the tiny kick from the outside. Grandparents chuckle. Children squeal with excitement at the crazy unknown-ness of it all.

Our precious babies.

They grow, expand, contract, and explore from the womb even before their arrival.

And the messy, sometimes horrifying, gorgeous beauty of the birth. These little creations of ours come into this realm with a myriad of miracles already underway.

Sometimes they arrive with our coos and cries of joy. And sometimes they arrive with the beeping of machines and the yelling of voices. Sometimes they arrive later than expected, and are quickly cradled with energy-rich love in their mother’s arms. And other times, they arrive much sooner than expected, and are wrapped with IV’s, tubes, and sterile plastic for months. 

The tumultuousness of life is beautiful and fearful. And gloriously imperfect.

What role can essential oils play?

While I teach often about the many physical uses of essential oils, I’m finding that the benefits of truly pure essential oils for the emotional and mental health of us all is vastly undervalued.

Undervalued because as a culture, we have yet to realize that it’s our thoughts and emotions that make up most of our experience here. And even more so, for our small precious babies who live with practically no awareness of their body yet. They live in the thought and emotion space.

They feel everything.

From conception to late childhood, our children are experiencing their own thoughts and emotions about the world, all while swimming in the energy and emotional atmosphere that we create within our home.

Be the healer.

Kate Fox explains in the "The Smell Report",

"Our olfactory receptors are directly connected to the limbic system, the most ancient and primitive part of the brain, which is thought to be the seat of emotion. Smell sensations are relayed to the cortex, where 'cognitive' recognition occurs, only after the deepest parts of our brains have been stimulated. Thus, by the time we correctly name a particular scent as, for example, 'vanilla,' the scent has already activated the limbic system, triggering more deep-seated emotional responses."

 We’ve even discovered that our babies develop the sense of smell before they leave the womb. This makes the plant-based aromatic compounds of pure essential oils the perfect tool to support ourselves and our little ones.

When we inhale the molecules of potent essential oils, those molecules actually travel to our olfactory bulbs and then transfer to the emotional regions of our brains, where decisions and feelings are created.

This is why our own personal use of essential oils to support our emotional, mental, and physical ups and downs, is of the utmost importance. We can intentionally improve our mental and emotional state by inhaling certain essential oils and allowing them to do their work.

It must start with us.

Put yourself first. Then tune in to the needs of your precious baby. We cannot give what we don’t have. Like they say on the airplane, we must put our own oxygen mask on before assisting others.

Only then can you clearly see what the needs are and address them with the depth of presence, care, and awareness they desire. It doesn’t matter if they are 24 weeks premature, or 14 years old uber-mature… They need you calm, present, and unconditionally loving.

Some essential oils that can help you both are:

-Lavender: all things calming, sleep, rest, the oil of communication

-Bergamot: emotional and mental stress, the oil of self-acceptance

-Frankincense: all things healing, cellular support, the oil of truth

-Sandalwood: grounding and balancing, skin, the oil of sacred devotion

-Ylang Ylang: reduces anxious feelings, tension, the oil of the inner child

Of course, be sure to dilute for young and sensitive skin. Do your homework. It’s also important to make a note of quality. Only use the purest, most tested forms of essential oils. They will support you best.

Most effective methods for use

There are three ways to use essential oils.

Aromatically. Place 1-2 drops of the oil in the palm of your hand, and then cup that hand over your nose and mouth as you inhale the aroma. Breathing oils can open airways, soothe your respiratory system, and benefit your mood.

Topically. Just one drop of essential oil can service every cell of your body. Apply it to your feet, ears, chest, back of neck, or troubled areas. For sensitivity, dilute the oil with a vegetable carrier oil like coconut oil.

Internally. While still somewhat controversial, the internal use of high-quality, pure essential oils is gaining in validity. Just add one drop to your water to cleanse and purify the body. Use only internal grade oils for this method.

Aromatic and diluted topical use will be the most common methods of use, especially when it comes to our children.

But it goes farther than our emotions

Numerous studies have shown how negative thoughts and stress adversely affect the immune system.

In the Prescription for Nutritional Healing, 4th Edition by Phyllis A. Balch CNC, the author states:

“Researchers estimate that stress contributes to as many as 80 percent of all major illnesses, including cardiovascular disease, cancer, endocrine and metabolic disease, skin disorders, and infectious ailments of all kinds.”

So. It’s not just about using pure essential oils when you want to feel better emotionally. It’s about using them regularly to address the emotional and mental needs of your body, which in turn increases the body’s immune system and fosters overall system-wide physical health.

Next steps

Our children are coming wide-eyed into this marvelous, messy experience we call life. They will experience stresses. They will learn from us how to respond to those experiences. It’s vital that we cultivate a thriving, positive, hope-filled environment for them to swim in.  

Here are some next steps to help you take action.

• Use pure essential oils daily to handle your own emotional, mental, and physical health so that you can be ready to help them handle theirs.
• Find a trusted, well respected, essential oil source to obtain your oils from. One that does testing, proves their sourcing, and provides education.
• Find a community of essential oil users to plug into. Doing and listening to others who are doing it well is the best way to experiential knowledge.
• Know that you’re not going to get it right every time. Essentials oils have been used for thousands of years to support mankind’s wellness. It is an aged practice. But it is just that…. A practice. And you and your children are unique and different than any other human being. So go slow, and practice.
• Get started now. Don’t wait for the melt down or the blow up. Begin today to create a thriving atmosphere for you and those you love. You can do it! #createhope

Hope Clark is a doTERRA Wellness Advocate and leader, mother of three young children, and a recovering “Overwhelm Expert”. She mentors and teaches classes specializing in reducing stress & overwhelm and increasing whole life thriving, and she and her oil community can be reached online and at Facebook here. 

**This article was recently published in the July – August 2017 issue of Massage Message, the official publication of the FSMTA, Vol. 32, Issue 4.