Special Feature Aromatherapy for small noses JUST LIKE young animals, babies and children have an especially sensitive sense of smell and their little noses are highly impressionable. It takes only a few weeks for babies to recognise their mother’s scent and distinguish between their mother’s and someone else’s used underclothing. Scent connects mother and child in a profound way creating a life-long love bond. Mothers seem to have a heightened olfactory ability, instinctively picking up scent changes in their child and detecting a particular health problem. For example, she can detect a change in scalp smell as the onset of teething in babies coincides with the disappearance of their usually gentle, pleasant scent. Such finely tuned instincts would not be possible in an environment swamped with strong chemical smells. Only the most natural odorous substances from the plant world should be put on and around the young child to encourage wholesome, sound personal development. Create positive memories for your children FRAGRANCES are among our earliest teachers; we begin to learn about the world around us through them, from the very first moments of life. Experiences, pleasant or unpleasant, dangerous or comforting, become scent memories, which inhabit the subconscious for a very long time. Certain fragrances are capable of influencing creativity, shape positive attitudes towards life and sharpen our senses. This is why it is so important to only use scent from pure safe plant oils as opposed to synthetic laboratory concoctions. It pays to start early because, ultimately such man-made fragrance devoid of any life-force will gradually anesthetise the olfactory system and weaken its innate ability to discern between what is life-enhancing and what is detrimental to overall well-being.
Please store your essential oils in a safe place out of small children’s reach. Although safe and healing when used appropriately, they can all be hazardous if ingested.
It is tricky to discriminate what is real scent from nature in a world saturated with what is often beguiling or seductive artificial scent. The more we are exposed ourselves with our children to nature’s pharmacy of pure plant scent, the more skilled our noses and theirs will become. Sometimes we can just close our eyes and recall the familiar fragrances of our childhood, such as our favourite meals, our grandmother’s perfume or freshly mown grass on hot summer days. By using beautiful, gentle plant scent we can create more beautiful future memories for our children and when all grown up they need only open a bottle of that certain plant oil to recall special, loving scented moments that were filled with joy and fun. One whiff could potentially shift them back from a negative dark hole into a positive space filled with love and light. For babies and children, essential oils may be beautifully employed using an oil burner or aromatiser in their bedroom or play area. The very young love the smell of tangerine, orange, roman chamomile, rose and mandarin. You can even make a fragrant garland made with such oils embedded in absorbent fabric or wash their clothes and bed linen in specific, child-friendly essential oil blends.
Special Feature Blends Essential for Content Children When preparing these blends always use pure essential oils. Read labels carefully if using words such as ‘fragrance of’ or ‘scented oil’ - these may be cheaper, synthetic alternatives.
Children’s bath bliss Children do so love a scented bath, just like we do, as it makes it a more enriching and healing experience. 3-5 drops of any of these: Roman chamomile, tangerine, mandarin, neroli, sandalwood, rose. Add to half a cup of full cream milk, (use almond milk if you are vegan). Also try mixing the oil first in honey before vigorously mixing it into the warm bath water. If the child has skin irritations, mix the oils with calendula or mullein infused oils.
Baby soother scent When babies are restless or irritated due to digestive or teething problems, try this soothing calming, blend to release near your baby. 10 drops lavender 5 drops Roman chamomile Add one drop of fennel oil or spearmint oil for colicky pain.
Compress for colic 2 drops Roman chamomile 1 drop fennel Mix both of the above oils in a litre of warm water, immerse a face cloth in the mixture and apply it to the abdominal area. Cover well with a dry towel to keep the first towel warm. Remove the compress before it cools.
Kids colds & congestion 2 drops each of niaouli, pine, lemon, spearmint, eucalyptus globulus. For colds or runny nose, the above antiseptic and expectorant oils may be used in an oil burner.
Happy Birthday scent Try this scent in an oil burner for use at a children’s birthday party to keep them all happy and occupied. 10 drops tangerine 5 drops rose 5 drops neroli 5 drops mandarin
Sleep pillow spray When your little one is not getting enough sleep, try this: 5 drops Lavender oil 2 drops Roman chamomile 2 drops sandalwood in either rose water or orange-flower water. Shake well and spray around the pillow and bedding just before bedtime.
Bonding Baby Massage Touch is as vital as the right nourishment for babies and children. Regular massage is the perfect way to convey love, closeness, trust and safety. It also soothes angry skin conditions, strengthens the immune system, calms the nervous system and eases colic and constipation. Avoid mineral-based massage oils, which will have a longer shelf-life but eventually deplete and dry the skin; it is not absorbed so doesn’t actually provide nourishment. Use a quality cold-pressed vegetable oil, such as almond, hazelnut or macadamia. 3 drops rose 5 drops tangerine 2 drops roman chamomile 2 drops sandalwood to 50 mls of your chosen vegetable oil base
Essential Oil of the Month Tangerine Tangerine oil: Sweet, youthful and sparkling THE NAME tangerine comes from Tangier, Morocco; the port where the first tangerines were shipped to in Europe. It did not take long for this tangy fruit to travel to the United States, where the largest harvests come from today. Sicily is also a producer of the oil. The tangerine tree’s history stretches much further back. It is a native to China and has been grown in China, Japan, and Djibouti for more than 3,000 years. Tangerine is from the same botanical source as mandarin although it represents an earlier stage in the horticultural development of the fruit. It is a species variation of the mandarin only the fruit has a rounder, less elliptical shape, a deeper orange colour with no pips and is harvested earlier. There are a few chemical differences as well; mandarin essential oil contains esters while tangerine does not; and mandarin oil also has greater alcohol content. Mandarin has antifungal, antiseptic, antispasmodic properties in addition to the tangerine properties (see Fact File below). They both contain sedative properties that are calming to the nervous system, making them good for stress and settling emotions. Tangerine has similar medicinal properties to orange and mandarin, and is often interchanged; all of these oils have marked digestive action. Tangerine oil also deals with many gastric complaints such as flatulence, diarrhoea, constipation and it aids the liver, stimulating the flow of bile, helping to digest fats in the body. Tangerine contains 85-93 per cent limonene, which is present in all the citrus essential oils and has shown to protect against pancreatic, stomach, colon, skin and liver cancers in animal studies. The vascular system enjoys tangerine’s tonic action, as it stimulates peripheral circulation nourishing the distal extremities of the body, activating tired and aching limbs and dispersing excess fluid. Tangerine is a natural cleanser like grapefruit and lemon, and has the ability to decongest the lymphatic system and alleviate water retention. Tangerine oil is generally approved as a food additive and readily available on the market in many different qualities. Flavoursome desserts In the kitchen, pure tangerine oil is ideal for flavouring desserts, cakes, lemonade, drinks, ice cream and liqueurs. For the skin, tangerine is used in body lotions and oils blends to energise pale, lack-lustre skin. Tangerine is a sensible choice for pregnancy massage blends because of its safety, and cosmetic effects on the skin’s elasticity. Blend tangerine with lavender or neroli in a calendula oil base to help prevent stretch marks on the swollen belly and simultaneously soothe the unborn babe. Children love its sweet, edible smell and respond positively to its sedative gentle nature. The same goes for babies, who love a pre-bed massage with tangerine-scented massage blends. Tangerine has a hypnotic effect on the developed mind and gently eases stress and tension from the nervous system. Tangerine will melt sadness and fear. Massage with tangerine to treat the irritability of PMT. Tangerine allows us to embrace change with grace. It helps dissolve any old programming that prevents us from achieving our goals and instills enthusiasm to sustain us on finding our true path. Its bright orange colour and zest aligns us with our sacral chakra svadhisthana; to stay fully present to the natural ebbs and flows of life, asking us to ride the ever-changing waves with ease and poise.
Useful Blends with Tangerine Diffuse in an Oil Burner: vapourise tangerine with marjoram to release emotions of anger, grief and shock. Relax in a Bath: Mixing tangerine with sandalwood, bergamot and lavender tangerine oil can assist the nervous system, Blend in a Massage Oil: Add tangerine with carrot and chamomile to reduce flatulence, diarrhea, constipation, and other digestive complaints, but also increase circulation to the skin, reduce fluid retention and help prevent stretch marks. Add to Drinking Water: Place one drop of tangerine oil in your water and drink the benefits of tangerine throughout the day. Calm an animal: Vapourise or use tangerine in massage for calming and relaxing both dogs and horses.
FACT FILE Name: Tangerine Latin name: Citrus reticulata Family: Rutaceae Scent: Tangerine essential oil has the typical citrus scent: fresh, radiant and tangy sweet, only with no dryness. The oil is extracted by cold expression of the outer rind. The scent is very similar to mandarin but tends to be a little sweeter. In comparison to sweet orange, tangerine is distinguished as lighter with more candy-like tones. Blends well with: Other citrus oils lime, lemon, orange and grapefruit. Try with chamomile, clary sage, frankincense, lavender or rose to sweeten and uplift a blend with its lively note. Mix it with the spice oils nutmeg, cinnamon or clove to enrich the spicy scent. Tangerine is often considered a superior to mandarin in sophisticated perfumery. Therapeutic properties: Antiseptic, antispasmodic, cytophylactic, (encourages cell growth) anti- coagulant, sedative, stomachic, tonic, digestive aid, circulatory enhancer, detoxifying, laxative and sedative. Precautions: Tangerine can increase photosensitivity when exposed to sunlight.
