As busy mummies, we sometimes may not realise the importance of using products that are correctly formulated for our children.
Yet, this is especially important if products are used on babies and young children who have not started speaking. Because they will not be able to tell us the effects of the product that we have just applied onto them.
Sleeping Oils For Babies: Why Is This So Important?
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Let’s look at some examples of products that may be more harmful than good if we are not mindful.
Vapour balms, for instance.
Imagine applying balms that are too minty on our babies and young children. Or balms that are too warm.
As adults, we will not be able to know how minty or how warm a balm is on our young child’s skin because even our ‘thinnest skin’ is not as thin and as sensitive, thus we will not be able to feel the effect.
So what can happen when we apply balm that is too strong on our babies and young children?
By now, we all know that Peppermint and Eucalyptus are strongly advised not to be used on babies and young children, by the world oil masters. Strong menthol and powerful Eucalyptus may act as irritants to the respiratory airways, potentially causing more mucus production and nasal congestion. And worse, breathlessness and seizures!
Strong Menthol Products May Also Be Overwhelmingly Unbearable
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Have you ever applied balm that’s too minty on yourself? If that has happened, you would have experienced feeling your chest slowly freezing especially in an air-conditioned room.
Or perhaps you may have experienced applying balm that is too hot on your chest that you desperately need to rush to the washroom to wash it off immediately.
Imagine how much our young children would suffer if we wrongly use a balm that is beyond what a baby and a young child can endure?
Besides balms, another product that is commonly used that could cause a child more harm than good is one formulation, a baby to adult sleeping oil blend.
We have frequently heard many mummies admit to innocently applying a standardised sleeping oil blend on their babies and young children that makes them sleep for the longest possible time.
This habit might become routine, especially while on flights. Mummies are proud to say that their young children were still sleeping even though they have already landed!
But the fact is that applying an overdosage sleeping oil on young children is like giving an adult’s sleeping pill to someone so much younger.
We Must Always Remember That Our Young Children Are Not Mini-Adults
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If you have a young child that doesn’t sleep well, sometimes it’s just a matter of a more frequent applications of a child formulated product that is specially made for the age group.
Choosing a specially formulated and correctly diluted baby and child safe sleeping oils for your child is very important.
Essential oils used to promote sleeping have sedative and hypnotic effects, which are intended to induce sedation and promote deeper and longer sleep. As a result, they may have deteriorating effects on cognitive performance because of frequent use of such overdose formulation, which may effect their memory due to sedative effects.
Therefore, by using a specially formulated sleeping product for your babies and young children, you are helping your child to safely experience a good restful sleep without forsaking long-term mental and health safety.
Safe use of products on our babies and children starts with us, mummies. Let’s play our part.
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Essential Oil Safety For Babies And Children: A Helpful Guide For New Mums