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This top five kid-safe essential oils blog post is your go-to guide for easy use of essential oils at home. Using essential oils can be daunting. There are so many different oils, each with its own safety guidelines. Each essential oil has a different set of age-related safety guidelines. Most essential oil companies do not label whether or not an essential oil is safe.

Plant Therapy is an incredible essential oil company for many reasons. One of my favorite reasons is that they label their essential oils as kid-safe or not.

The images below show the difference between a kid-safe essential oil and a non-kid-safe essential oil as labeled with Plant Therapy. Clicking the images will take you to the Plant Therapy website to learn more.

Companies continuously market peppermint essential oil to families with young children, promoting it in all the “clean with non-toxic cleaners from _” advertisements. However, in reality, parents should avoid using it on or around children under 10 or around cats.

When you are first starting your aromatherapy journey, it can be daunting with all the information available. Many of us who start out with aromatherapy are doing it because we have children, and we want to live closer to nature or have less-toxic items in our homes.

All the information available can overwhelm parents. I will be making this a kid-safe essential oil series. For now, here are the top five kid-safe essential oils…

Check out my natural remedies section if you want to learn about kid-safe herbal remedies.

Did you know there are two commonly sold types of lavender essential oil, and only one is kid-safe? Yeah, me either when I first started out. This is not common knowledge, and most reps for MLM companies do not actually have this knowledge. There is Lavender angustifolia and Lavender latifolia. The level of Cineole is much higher in Lavender latifolia (also known as Spike Lavender). This makes it unsafe to use on children under 10. The high Cineole content can cause respiratory complications and rashes when used on the skin. I see people constantly using the two different types of lavender interchangeably, as if they are the same thing when, in reality, they are not. This is just one example of the safety contradictions and why understanding aromatherapy is so important.

Let’s get started with the most common, kid-safe essential oil:

Lavender Essential Oil

Lavender angustifolia is a kid-safe essential oil that you can use on/around children over the age of 2. (Under two, you should use herbal remedies or hydrosols and no essential oils) When shopping at Plant Therapy, you will find that they label their essential oils “kid-safe,” so make sure to check before ordering anything. Lavender can be used for calming, sleeping, rashes (not on genitals), and bug bites.

Sweet Orange

Sweet Orange essential oil is one of my all-time favorite oils. I don’t use essential oils all the time as I lean more towards herbal concoctions, but I use Sweet Orange almost every time I use essential oils. Sweet Orange is a great essential oil for uplifting, cleansing the air, cleaning surfaces, and in roll-on perfumes. (Again, do not use essential oils on children under the change of 2).

Bergamot Mint

Bergamot Mint is another good, kid-friendly option. This oil can be used to calm your senses while also making you feel productive throughout your day. It creates an uplifting feeling while calming anxious thoughts, which can help boost motivation.

Sweet Marjoram

Sweet Morjoram is not one of the common essential oils you see all over social media and in Pinterest searches. But it has some fantastic properties. It helps with sore muscles, which is why I listed it here: growing pains. My kids have all struggled with growing pains, and I use Sweet Marjoram in my growing pains salve to ease their pain and discomfort.

Frankincense Carterii

Frankincense is another really good option to have on hand. This one is great for the skin (when used properly diluted in a carrier oil) and can be used to help with skin irritations that kids can get. Rashes from new clothes or new laundry soap or playing outside in the grass (grass irritates me and my children, but we love it)! It can help soothe bug bites, but I much prefer herbs for this.

As an herbalist and an aromatherapist, I know the differences between the two, and I gravitate toward herbal remedies over essential oils. Essential oils are much more potent and come with more risks than herbs. I mostly use and recommend herbs for parents. I understand that essential oils are easier to get your hands on and do not take as much prep time as herbal remedies, so I want to ensure you know how to safely use essential oils with your family.

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