As essential oil popularity has risen in the last few years, essential oil safety has not kept pace.

This has been ESPECIALLY true for using essential oils on or around kids and babies.

Now, don't get me wrong – using herbs, essential oils, and other natural remedies is absolutely WONDERFUL and definitely effective on children, but we need to at least know that not all oils can be used safely on babies and children – and that not all oils are created equal.

I've created a more general printable chart for essential oil safety that summarizes everything from breastfeeding to pregnancy to pets – as well as children and babies – which you can download at the article, How to Use Essential Oils Safely printable cheatsheet, but I get enough questions about specific oils in reference to children that I thought it would be prudent to compile a reference right here that you can bookmark and visit every time you're wondering, “Can I use sandalwood on my 3-year-old???”

My goal in providing this essential oil list is two-fold: to help you feel confident in using herbs and essential oils in your day-to-day life and to provide you with the knowledge you need to use essential oils safely – no matter what brand you use.

But first: Hydrosols

Before we get to our big reference list of essential oils that are safe for kids and babies, we need to talk briefly about hydrosols.

If you've already downloaded our How to Use Essential Oils Safely printable cheatsheet, you'll remember that we – like many others – make the statement, “Hydrosols are preferable to essential oils for children under two.”

(And honestly, I rather agree with the “Aromahead Approach,” which recommends easing into essential oils extremely slowly with children and just using hydrosols – which are PLENTY beneficial in their own right – all the way until age five.)

So, what are hydrosols and why the big deal?

Essential oils are named essential oils because they are distilled in order to contain only the essence of the plant – no fibres, no water, no extra plant mass – and therefore they are extremely concentrated and quite potent. (This is why we talk so often about essential oil safety as well.)

Because babies and young children have sensitive, immature respiratory and circulatory systems that are still developing and growing, often essential oils are simply too potent to use. But thankfully, there's a lovely by-product of the essential oil distillation process – and that is the water that the plant releases in addition to the oil. These are often referred to as floral waters, or more accurately, aromatic waters since they derive from more plants than just florals, and these are hydrosols.

So, hydrosols contain many of the same healing constituents as the essential oils from the same plant – and a few additional ones, since some compounds are only soluble in water – but they are considerably less potent, and thus are ideal to use on babies and young children. You can even use them directly on a baby's skin, such as when dealing with diaper rash or eczema.

Hydrosols can often be found in natural health stores, and both Plant Therapy and Aromatics International are two of the few essential oil companies that also carry an entire line of hydrosols, and at very decent prices. See the Plant Therapy line here.

The Essential Oil Database: Safe Essential Oils for Babies & Children

How to Use This Table: Search for any term in the search bar OR click on the arrows to sort columns. For example, search for "sleep" if you're looking for oils that promote restful sleep, "2+" if you want to see only oils that are safe from age 2+ years, or "frankincense" if you want to compare the different types of frankincense. To sort the table by age, click the up or down arrows in the "Age Minimum" column to organize the information by age.

For even more detailed info on these oils, including whether you can use the oil while pregnant or breastfeeding, whether the oil is safe for pets, the oil's shelf life, and MUCH more, check out the comprehensive Essential Oil Binder in our shop!

At A Glance: Safe Essential Oils for Babies & Children – listed by age

If the table above isn't exactly your style (or it's not working for you on your particular device), here's an at-a-glance list of all the essential oils listed above according to age.

Essential oil best practices for topical use/diffusion on babies 6+ months

REMEMBER!  We DO NOT recommend using essential oils on children until age 2 – we recommend hydrosols instead. If you DO choose to use essential oils topically on infants, they MUST MUST MUST be properly diluted, which – unless otherwise noted – is a 0.25% maximum (that's about 1 drop of essential oil per 4 teaspoons of carrier oil). For diffusion, diffuse intermittently (approx. 10 minutes on, 20 minutes off) and place the diffuser across the room rather than directly on or next to the child.

For greater information and notes on each oil, consult the table above.

6+ Months

• Ajowan Seed Trachyspermum ammi
• Amyris (West Indian Sandalwood) Amyris balsamifera
• Basil, Holy Ocimum sanctum
• Basil, Sweet (a.k.a. Basil linalool) Ocimum basilicum
• Bergamot Citrus bergamia
• Black Pepper Piper nigrum
• Carrot Seed Daucus carota
• Catnip Nepeta cataria
• Cedarwood, Atlas Cedrus atlantica
• Cedarwood, Himalayan Cedrus deodara
• Cedarwood, Texan Junipera mexicana
• Cedarwood, Virginian Juniperus virginiana
• Chamomile, German Matricaria recutita
• Chamomile, Roman Anthemis nobilis
• Cinnamon Leaf Cinnamomum verum
• Citronella Cymbopogon nardus
• Clary Sage Salvia sclarea
• Clementine Citrus clementina, Citrus reticula
• Coffee Coffea arabica
• Copaiba Balsam Copaifera officinalis
• Coriander Leaf Coriandrum sativum
• Cucumber Seed Cucumis sativus
• Cypress Cupressus sempervirens
• Cypress, Blue Callitris intratropica
• Dill Seed Anthum graveolens
• Eucalyptus, Peppermint Eucalyptus dives (please note: this is the ONLY type of eucalyptus considered safe at this age – most varieties are contraindicated until age 6+ years)
• Finger Root Boesenbergia rotunda
• Fir Needle Abies sibirica
• Fragonia Agonis fragrans
• Frankincense Boswellia carterii, Boswellia serrata, Boswellia frereana
• Galangal Rhizome Alpinia officinarum, Alpinia galanga
• Geranium Pelargonium graveolens, Pelargonium x asperum
• Ginger Zingiber officinale
• Grapefruit Citrus paradisi
• Helichrysum Helichrysum splendidum
• Helichrysum (a.k.a. Immortelle) Helichrysum italicum, Helichrysum angustifolium
• Ho Wood (Linalool chemotype) Cinnamomum camphora
• Jasmine Jasminum grandiflorum
• Juniper Berry Juniperus communis
• Kunzea Kunzea ambigua
• Lavandin Lavandula x intermedia
• Lavender Lavendula angustifolia
• Lavender, Spike Lavandula latifolia, Lavandula spica
• Lemon Citrus limon
• Lime Citrus x aurantifolia
• Mandarin Citrus reticulata
• Manuka Leptospermum scoparium
• Marjoram, Sweet Marjorana hortensis
• Myrrh Commiphora myrrha
• Neroli Citrus aurantium
• Orange, Blood Citrus x sinensis
• Orange, Sweet Citrus sinensis
• Palmarosa Cymbopogon martinii
• Palo Santo (Holy Wood) Bursera graveolens
• Patchouli Pogostemon cablin
• Petitgrain Citrus aurantium
• Pine, Jack Pinus banksiana, Pinus divaricata
• Pine, Scotch Pinus sylvestris (Please note: While all Pine essential oils are fantastic to support healthy respiration, do not use Pinus sylvestris if you or your child has asthma or whooping cough.)
• Pine, White Pinus strobus
• Ravensara Leaf Ravensara aromatica
• Rosalina Melaleuca ericifolia
• Rose Otto (Damask) Rosa damascena
• Rosewood Aniba rosaeodora
• Sandalwood, Australian Santalum spicatum
• Sandalwood, East African Osyris lanceolata
• Sandalwood, Indian Santalum album
• Sandalwood, New Caledonian Santalum austrocaledonicum
• Spearmint Mentha cardiaca, Mentha spicata
• Spikenard Mardostachys grandiflora, Nardostachys jatamansi
• Spruce, Black Picea mariana
• Spruce, Hemlock Tsuga canadensis
• St. John’s Wort Hypericum perforatum
• Tangerine Citrus reticulata
• Tansy, Blue Tanacetum annuum
• Tea Tree Melaleuca alternifolia
• Thyme (linalool) Thymus vulgaris
• Thyme (thymol) Thymus vulgaris
• Turmeric Leaf Curcuma longa
• Turmeric Rhizome Curcuma longa
• Vanilla Vanilla planifolia
• Vetiver Vetiveria zizanoides
• Yuzu Citrus x junos

2+ years

• Allspice Pimenta officinalis (Please note: Although there is no scientific literature to state that Allspice is not inherently safe at this age, which is why it’s listed here, there are a number of theoretical hazards connected with Allspice, so we recommend you avoid it on children and adults alike unless absolutely necessary.)
• Basil, Lemon Ociumum x citriodorum
• Benzoin Styrax benzoin, Styrax tonkinensis
• Cinnamon Bark Cinnamomum verum (Please note: topical use of Cinnamon Bark is NOT recommended at ANY age, including adults.)
• Cinnamon, Cassia Cinnamomum cassia
• Clove Bud Syzygium aromaticum, Eugenia aromatica, Eugenia caryophyllata
• Davana Artemisia pallens
• Eucalyptus, Lemon Eucalyptus citriodora, Corymbia citriodora (please note: this is only one of two types of eucalyptus considered safe at this age – most varieties are contraindicated until age 6+ years)
• Garlic Allium sativum
• Ginger Lily Hedychium coronarium
• Lavender, Spanish Lavandula stoechas
• Lemon Leaf, Lemon Petitgrain Citrus x limon, Citrus limonum
• Lemongrass Andropogon citratus, Andropogon flexuosus, Cymbopogon citratus, Cymbopogon flexuosus
• May Chang Litsea cubeba
• Melissa (a.k.a. Lemon Balm) Melissa officinalis
• Myrtle, Green Myrtus communis (note that RED Myrtle is safe at 6+ years, NOT 2+ years)
• Myrtle, Honey Melaleuca teretifolia
• Myrtle, Lemon (a.k.a. Sweet Verbena) Backhousia citriodora
• Oakmoss Evernia prunastri
• Opopanax Commiphora guidottii
• Oregano Origanum vulgare, Origanum onites, Origanum smyrnaeum
• Oregano, Mexican Lippia graveolens
• Peru Balsam Myroxylon balsamum
• Sage, Wild Mountain Hemizygia petiolata
• Savory Satureia hortensis, Satureia montana
• Tea Tree, Lemon Leptospermum petersonii, Leptospermum citratum
• Treemoss Pseudevernia furfuracea
• Tuberose Polianthes tuberosa
• Valerian (European type) Valeriana officinalis
• Verbena, Lemon Aloysia triphylla, Aloysia citriodora, Lippa citriodora, Lippa triphylla
• Verbena, Sweet (a.k.a. Lemon Myrtle) Backhousia citriodora
• Yarrow, Blue Achillea millefolium
• Ylang Ylang Cananga odorata

6+ Years

• Anise / Aniseed Pimpinella anisum
• Anise, Star Illicium verum
• Cajeput Melaleuca cajuputi, Melaleuca leucadendron
• Camphor, White Cinnamomum camphor, Laurus camphora (Please note: This age designation applies to WHITE Camphor only. BROWN Camphor should be avoided completely at all times.)
• Cornmint Mentha arvensis, Mentha canadensis
• Fennel Seed, Bitter Foeniculum vulgare (Please note: Due to the number of theoretical hazards with Bitter Fennel, we recommend you avoid it with both children and adults unless absolutely necessary.)
• Fennel Seed, Sweet Foeniculum vulgare
• Helichrysum gymnocephalum (a.k.a. Rambiazana) Helichrysum gymnocephalum
• Ho Leaf (camphor chemotype) Cinnamomum camphora
• Hyssop Hyssopus officinalis
• Marjoram, Spanish Thymus mastichina
• Myrtle, Aniseed Backhousia anisata
• Myrtle, Red Myrtus communis
• Niaouli Melaleuca quinquinervia
• Nutmeg Myristica fragrans (Please note: On our Essential Oil Safety Cards, we list Nutmeg as safe for ALL ages – which it is for diffusion, in particular – but we’ve listed it as 6+ years here simply to ensure that proper care and caution is attended, as it is psychotropic.)
• Peppermint Mentha x piperita
• Ravintsara (a.k.a. Ho Leaf, cineole chemotype) Cinnamomum camphora
• Sanna Hedychium spicatum
• Saro Cinnamosma fragrans

10+ years

• Cardamom Elettaria cardamomum
• Eucalyptus Eucalyptus camaldulensis, Eucalyptus globulus, Eucalyptus maidenii, Eucalyptus plenissima, Eucalyptus kochii, Eucalyptus polybractea, Eucalyptus radiata, Eucalyptus australiana, Eucalyptus phellandra, Eucalyptus smithii
• Laurel Leaf / Bay Laurel Laurus nobilis
• Rosemary Rosmarinus officinalis
• Sage, Dalmation Salvia officinalis
• Sage, Greek Salvia fruiticosa, Salvia triloba
• Sage, White Salvia apiana

13+ years

• Chaste Tree (a.k.a. Vitex Berry) Vitex agnus castus – Use only AFTER the full onset of puberty and in girls, only after menstruation has begun; avoid use COMPLETELY on pre-pubescent children. Stop use if unpleasant side effects occur, such as tingling or burning sensations occur on the skin. Most effective to offset symptoms of PMS and to rebalance hormones.

Essential oils to NEVER use on children of any age

Just as ASA (e.g. Asprin) is contraindicated for children because of its high concentration of synthetic salicylate, which can cause the rare but potentially fatal Reye's syndrome, so are herbs and plants that are high in the natural compound. The essential oils derived from the plants listed below should not be given to any person under the age of 18.

• Birch, sweet (Betula lenta)
• Wintergreen (Gualtheria fragrantisima)
• Wintergreen (Gualtheria procumbens)

Sources

Want to know more and why I assigned each oil as I did? Here are the sources from where I have gathered my notes and research through the years. Please remember that even though I immerse myself in solid scientific study of essential oils, I am neither a certified aromatherapist nor a certified herbalist (yet).

• Essential Oil Safety, Second Edition by Robert Tisserand and Rodney Young
• The Herbal Academy
• National Association for Holistic Aromatherapy
• Aromahead Institute
• Mountain Rose Herbs
• The Truth About Essential Oil Safety by Lea Harris

Best Practices for Using Essential Oils Safely with Children & Babies

So, what are some best practices when it comes to using essential oils safely with children and babies? Here are my top six…  

Best Practice #1: Know Your Latin

Perhaps you didn't study Latin in school (or perhaps you did), but in this case, it makes all the difference. Through history as plants have been grown and given names in English (and French and Swahili), like any other word in a language, they tend to go through changes and take on nicknames. For example, lemon balm – a commonly used herb – is also commonly called “bee balm,” “sweet balm,” or just plain “balm.”

Another example is chamomile. There are two common types of chamomile, Anthemis nobilis and Matricaria recutita, but they each have 3-4 English names, such as “Roman chamomile,” “Hungarian chamomile,” “German chamomile,” “English chamomile,” “blue chamomile,” “true chamomile,” “false chamomile,” “sweet chamomile,”…. and on and on. To keep them straight in English can be confusing, but if you look at each plant's Latin name, you immediately know which plant you're talking about.

The Latin name for a plant is the same in every language down to the chromosome. So when you look at the Latin – or scientific – name, you know exactly what plant you're talking about and exactly what its characteristics are. And thus you can make a more informed, thoughtful decision about whether it's an oil that's safe to use in your home – or whether you might want to use it on one child but not on another.

Now, the converse of this is also true: sometimes two different essential oils are made from the same plant, just different parts of the plant, which create oils with different constituents and characteristics. For example, cinnamon bark oil and cinnamon leaf oil are both derived from the Cinnamomum verum plant, but the cinnamon leaf oil is much milder in characteristic than the cinnamon bark oil, as the cinnamon bark oil contains approximately 70% (E)-Cinnamaldehyde (the constituent that makes your tongue tingle and burn if you put a drop on it), whereas cinnamon leaf oil contains less than 1% of (E)-Cinnamaldehyde. For this reason, you would never want to use cinnamon bark oil in a topical preparation, such as a vapor rub or homemade toothpaste, but a small amount of cinnamon leaf oil might be just fine.

Take away lesson: Read your labels – both the English AND the Latin. 

Best Practice #2: Dilute ALL essential oils every time

No matter what brand you use, no matter which essential oil it is, or how much you are using, essential oils are simply too potent to use without adding them to a carrier oil first (or blending them with salts or glycerin if using in a bath), ESPECIALLY with children.

Here's a handy chart to figure out your dilution amounts:

This dilution chart is part of our How to Use Essential Oils Safely cheatsheet. To download it, VISIT THIS POST and download the Essential Oil Safety chart. 

Best Practice #3: Introduce essential oils one at a time (and NOT in a blend)

Just like when you introduce new foods to babies, you want to introduce oils in such a way that if there's an allergic reaction, you can easily trace it and know the cause.

So a good practice is to only introduce one oil per day and to allow sufficient time for a reaction to appear. (This obviously means putting that ONE essential oil in a carrier oil in proper dilution if you're applying it topically… when I refer to a “blend,” that's a blend of essential oils, not a blend of carrier oils.)

A reaction will likely show signs of a reaction in the first 15-30 minutes after inhalation or topical application, but occasionally a reaction won't appear until hours later, such as a change in stool or prolonged, unexplained irritability. 

This also means that if you MUST use a blend (such as the kid-friendly ones listed below), if your child exhibits a reaction, immediately stop use of the blend and it is your due diligence to try each of the oils in the blend individually to determine the source of reaction before using the blend again.

I ABSOLUTELY understand that individual oils are expensive – sometimes prohibitively so – but remember that essential oils are potent medicine. You wouldn't allow your child to continue to take an over-the-counter liquid or pill medication if you didn't know what they were reacting to – the same is true for essential oils. 

Best Practice #4: Keep essential oils away from the face when using on children

Even when dealing with something like congestion, which is right in the nose, it is both effective and recommended to simply massage the diluted essential oils into the soles of the feet – or diffuse on the opposite end of the room – rather than rub the oils directly on the face, chest, or back of children, especially those under six. 

Best Practice #5: Follow the guidelines carefully, but trust your own judgment (I can't understate this one)

First of all, it is important to note that while all the information here is based on trusted scientific literature, one of the best tools available to you is your own intuition.

Essential oils come from living plants and like any natural or synthetic medicine, are comprised of the constituents inherent in that plant, which can vary from batch to batch and brand to brand. Likewise, our bodies are living, changing vessels. We each have different pH levels, different microbiomes, different stores of toxins, and different biochemical makeups. Thus, while there are definite generalities we can make according to age and other factors – which is the entirety of this article – at the end of the day, how well or how poorly YOU (or in this case, your child) will react and respond to any particular essential oil will depend on the interaction of the essential oil with the specific person.

So, if I've listed something here as “safe” for 2+ years, but you feel hesitant diffusing it around your four-year-old, absolutely trust your own judgment.

And remember: It is not advised to use essential oils AT ALL on babies less than six months of age because their skin is much more permeable and sensitive to essential oils, and then extremely cautiously until age two and onward. Also, unlike adults, newborns' systems are all still forming and maturing and thus are not as capable of dealing with adverse reactions to essential oils, so they can do much more harm. Please remember that in these cases, hydrosols are a much preferred option. 

Best Practice #6: ALWAYS leave an out

When using essential oils – and especially when diffusing – always have a way for the child to get away from the essential oil if they themselves feel uncomfortable.

This means:

• no diffusing in a room without ventilation or at a time when they're not allowed to leave the room. It's also a good practice to have the diffuser running at the opposite end of the room from where the children are.
• If you have applied an essential oil topically, have oil removal options available to rub off whatever you can if the smell or sensation is overwhelming to your child, such as a carrier oil, orange oil, or plenty of soap and water.
• intermittent diffusing only (which is a good practice anyway). Don't simply let your diffuser run without stopping for hours on end. A good rule of thumb is to set your diffuser on “intermittent” or let it run for 10 minutes on, 20 minutes off.

Safe Essential Oils for Babies and Children

Okay, okay – enough fine print! Let's get to the good stuff….

Here's how this works…

1. Essential oils are listed in alphabetical order according to their most common English name (but you can click any of the arrows to rearrange the oils in whichever way you'd like).

And please note that some English names appear in multiple listings due to the fact that different species of the same plant are sometimes appropriate for different ages, so please note the Latin names, as well. For example, different types of eucalyptus are recommended for different ages.

2. Thus, make generous use of the search function! I have purposely created this resource in a searchable table so you can use keywords to find what you're looking for! For example, different types of helichrysum, sage, myrtle, and others exist in different parts of the list. Also, I may have listed an oil under a different name than you expect, such as “Peru Balsam” instead of “Balsam of Peru” or “Helichrysum gymnocephalum” instead of “Rambiazana,” in order to match the most common usage. A search will very easily find all instances so you can make sure you're looking at the right essential oil.

3. For your research and buying convenience, I am working to provide links to various companies I trust for many of the oils here. As you hopefully know from our How to Choose the Best Essential Oil Brand article, it's important to evaluate each brand and research your sources, and thus, I have “spread the love” in these recommendations to link to multiple companies *I* trust throughout the list. It's taking me a while to sort through all the options and choose the BEST option for each oil, so please be patient with me while I add in those links.

(And yes, many of these are affiliate links, which means if you make a purchase, I will receive a small percentage of the sale as commission at no additional cost to you.)

4. Don't see an oil you're looking for? See a glaring error? Please leave a comment below!

The Most Important Thing to Remember When Using This Guide…

I have purposely written this guide for parents rather than aromatherapists and other medical practitioners who use essential oils in their practices, with the ease and clarity of use in the forefront of my mind.

What this means is that I have purposely placed oils in the simplest, safest categories I can – not necessarily their most precise.

As you know, oils can be used in many ways: they can be applied topically on the skin, they can be diffused in the air, they can be directly inhaled, etc. Each of these methods is called a “route” and when considering at which age a particular oil may be safely used, often different routes can be applied safely at different ages. For example, according to Tisserand and Young, the contraindication for clove bud oil is “avoid topical use on children under two.” Thus, that means under two years of age other routes, such as diffusing, are likely okay, and while that may be important in a clinical setting, for the sake of THIS article I had two other priorities:

1. Simplicity. There's a reason most aromatherapy texts and references are several hundred pages thick: the amount of detail is astounding. Here, I wanted accurate, summarized, at-a-glance information available that would be easy to reference over and over and over.
2. Safety. Aromatherapists and clinical professionals have lots of experience making decisions regarding which routes are best to use for any particular person. Most parents don't have that kind of training or experience, so I purposely listed each oil with a minimum age where it presented the overall SAFEST option for its use for someone who is just starting with essential oils or who feels overwhelmed. I have emphasized caution above precision.

Safe Essential Oil BLENDS for Children

If you want to make your own essential oil blends, there are DOZENS of recipes in my book, The Thinking Parent's Guide to Natural Remedies, including diffuser recipes, child-safe vapor rub recipes, sore muscle rubs, and headache oils – as well as hundreds more recipes for natural remedies using herbs, clays, and other natural sources.

If you'd prefer to purchase blends that are proven to be kid-safe, I recommend the kid-friendly lines at both Rocky Mountain Oils and Plant Therapy.

I love Rocky Mountain Oils for the extra-lovely aromas of their oils, their third-party testing processes, and the ease of their roll-ons.

I love Plant Therapy because they focus on sustainability, safety, and their deep attention to how their oils are created – they are true innovators in the world of essential oils. Also, Plant Therapy has gone so far as to clearly label EVERY oil in their collection that is “Kid-Safe®,” which makes choosing oils to use in our family simple and hassle-free because there's no guessing. 🙂

See the Kids Line collection at Rocky Mountain Oils.

See the Kid-Safe collection at Plant Therapy.

Find empty roller bottles for your DIY essential oil blends.