Essential Oils

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Has anyone tried essential oils to help their child. Caleb has real difficulty focusing and we really would like to avoid psychiatric meds- we love his personality. We are going to try everything else first- any help would be greatly appreciated. Paul

It is understandable to be hesitant about psychiatric meds, as everything has risks. However, keep in mind that alternatives like aromatherapy aren't guaranteed to be 100% safe either. In fact, they aren't regulated at all for therapeutic use.

Could backfire if he's not fond of strong perfumes.
Lavender is supposed to be soothing, but it makes me feel ill.

I know everything has risks but there are some real horror stories about children and psyche meds. My wife and I both work in the field and meds for children seem to be way over prescribed. Much of the time they are used to placate disfunctional parents. I would like to hear from parents who have actually tried alternatives and what the outcome was. Paul

How is a smell supposed to help someone focus? What's so great about focusing anyway?

Being able to get stuff done without being distracted by every little thing that catches your attention?

I can't comment on using essential oils (EO's) on a child, victorytea, but if I may share my own experience, I have used them on myself: InTune from DoTerra, for one. You might try a search for parent stories using the name of that product, since it was developed to address focus issues with ADHD type conditions.

My use of EO's is done in association with a whole lifestyle of healthy eating, supplementation, and other natural therapies. No matter how good an oil may be, the damaging effect of a multitude of synthetic food ingredients, possible food allergens, and toxic environments may be more than a good oil can overcome.

I know one practitioner who has seen an autistic child speak for the first time to the amazement of the parents after the child spent 10 minutes in a house with EMF (electro-magnetic field) remediation. <disclaimer>It would have to be tested before knowing a cause-effect relationship for certain,<end disclaimer> but EMF remediation is part of my lifestyle.

As YippySkippy alludes to, some oils can have strong adverse effects which could be caused by adulteration. Thinning the product or adulterating it with petrochemicals is common in the industry. I started using oils with a Lavender oil from a local store, and after getting pure French Lavender, there's no comparison between the two? well, there is, but if you compare, the first smells like brake fluid compared to the second.

I will add that pure oils can have a strong and dramatic effect, and should therefore be researched and applied carefully. The idea that they're just flowery smells they use in perfume can be misleading and potentially cause someone not to handle them with the care with which they should be.

Here's an article about how one of the early developers of modern EO's used Lavender portraying their strong potential: http://roberttisserand.com/2011/04/gattefosses-burn/

We use EOs on a regular basis is our home. Balance and InTune blends work well for myself and Lavender helps my son sleep. We use others for ailments (stomach ache, headache, etc). I agree with PP that not all lavender is the same. Most smell bad and are cut with fillers. DoTerra and Young Living are two high quality brands.

Interesting. Perhaps it's the chemicals making me sick, and not the lavender.

What's so great about getting stuff done?

AspE, employers typically hire people who can get their work done, and fire people who don't. Being employed means you generate income, which helps you fund eating and putting a roof over your head for when it rains. Otherwise, nothing really important.

We are talking about children here.

Schools expect children to get things done, like it or not.

Focus helps a child to not put his pants on backward nor his shirt. It helps a child verbally so that he can share ideas with others. It helps him to fix food on his plate the way he likes it. It helps him find his way around school. It helps him to ride a bicycle. It helps him to be quiet in school and in church .It helps him to play games with other children and ,lastly, it helps him to make logical statements on a computer. Paul

Well, if you don't learn to get stuff done by the time you're an adult, stuff like preparing meals and getting grocery shopping done is hard.
Another thing that's great is the sense of achievement you get from setting yourself a goal and actually completing it. I guess that can be done in 5-minute bursts, but it seems much slower than being able to focus for decent amounts of time.

I´d say it is about the middle. You should be able to focus on the stuff, that you yourself are interested to focus on. So I am able to do my groceries, shopping and job, however: It still happens to me, that I put my shirt on the wrong way. ^^