Essential Oils for Rylan

Rylan has been around diffused essential oils for several months but I closely followed the recommendation of waiting until six months to try anything topically. As “luck” would have it, he brought home a nasty cold from daycare about a week and a half ago. We heard there was a confirmed case of RSV in his room so to be extra cautious we got him into the pediatrician ASAP. Thankfully, we were told to hunker down for a good ole’ fashioned cold battle.

Our amazing pediatrician shares a lot of natural and homeopathic advice every visit. My jaw about dropped when he asked if we’d be comfortable trying eucalyptus essential oil or an eucalyptus blend – heavily diluted – on the soles of Ry’s feet and chest to help with the congestion and coughing. A grin spread across my face while Mike likely rolled his eyes. It was time to break out the oils for Rylan.

Just before he turned six months I bought R.C., a eucalyptus blend, to have on hand for instances like this. We started slow, diffusing it in his room along with two humidifiers and putting one drop with about six or eight drops of olive oil on the soles of his feet. It wasn’t a magic cure, but his cough started to break up the gunk in his chest and he didn’t progress to having anything more worrisome. After a few days we moved to a heavily diluted dose rubbed into his chest two – three times daily and steamed in the bathroom on a washcloth while we let the shower run until all the hot water was drained. That was our cold battle turning point. His cough began to subside and his body continued to push out the crud in his head and chest.

We’re almost two weeks into this cold and I won’t lie, it isn’t gone. But he has improved drastically and I am very grateful it didn’t evolve into anything more serious so far. He continued to sleep through the night all but two nights and I credit that to this natural routine. Even Mike became a bit of a believer and could be found filling the diffuser with more R.C. before a nap.

And my favorite part? Thieves saved me yet again. That’s about five colds avoided even after I felt the dreaded throat tickle and ache.

I can’t wait to keep expanding my growing oils collection and I 100% refuse to ever run out of Thieves or R.C.