Essential Oils for Adoption

Adoption is a beautiful thing. It is a living, breathing, picture of the Gospel played out in our families.

With that said, it is also hard.

It is composed of issues such as fear, anger, attachment, focus, attention, sleeplessness, stress, anxiety... and the list could go on. It is a delicate dance as you learn to become a family again.

Selah's Oils have been widely used in the adoptive community with great success.  The co-founder of Selah Essential Oils (who recently retired from the company) is a mother of six, four of whom were adopted internationally.  Drawing on her research and personal understanding of children from hard places, she created a select group of essential oils to help the adoptive family, some of which she personally helped to formulate.  Her own children have been able to benefit greatly from the following list of recommended oils. 

We recommend you take some time and click on each oil link to better understand their uses. Read the customer product reviews and the cautions associated with each one.

The best place to use essential oils is topically; on the bottoms of the feet, or along the spine. If your child will not let you apply oils to them, you can diffuse the oils in their bedroom at night, or in the family common areas during the day.

We do not believe essential oils are the only things needed to help our growing families and healing children; they are simply a tool in the toolbox.

We recommend the following oils for adoption:

  • Lavender: May help with burns, relaxing, mosquito bites, intestinal gas, damaged skin, insomnia, and headaches/migraines.
  • Quiescent: May help with calming, focus, and attention.
  • Resting: May help with anxiety, overactive and hard-to-manage children, snoring, sleep walking, stress, insomnia, depression, relaxation, and eases tension.
  • Vetiver: May help with focus, relaxation, or nervousness.

*Diffusing is a gentle and non-invasive way to introduce essential oils in your home. If you do not have a diffuser, try putting a couple of drops of essential oil on a cotton ball and place it in a fan or room air vent.

How to Use:

  • Topical: Apply to area of concern.  Click here for the essential oils dilution chart.
  • Inhalation: Diffuse or inhale directly.
  • Internal:  Although the quality of Selah Oils is excellent, it is not advised to take essential oils internally unless under the guidance of a certified physician who is also certified in aromatherapy. We recommend getting internal dosing instructions from a licensed physician as some essential oils are not recommended for oral consumption. This is in no way a reflection on our oil quality, only a matter of safety and caution with respect to how concentrated essential oils are. When used within safe parameters, and under your physician's care, the quality of our essential oils is such that they can be used internally if deemed appropriate.

However, with that said, it is important to remember the extreme concentration of essential oils. "Using essential oils by rubbing them into the skin or via inhalation is in many cases more effective than oral delivery" (Schnaubelt 96).

Cautions:

*All cautions listed for individual oils do not include those cautions from ingestion. It is not advised to take essential oils internally unless under the guidance of a certified physician who is also certified in aromatherapy.

  • Lavender: None.
  • Quiescent: Contraindicated for asthma. Not intended for use on babies or children under 2. May irritate the skin if used undiluted. Use with caution during pregnancy.
  • Resting: Avoid direct sunlight for up to 12 hours after topical use. Repeated use may result in contact sensitization.
  • Vetiver: Use with caution during pregnancy.

If for any reason you get essential oils in your eyes, put carrier oil along the eyebrows above the eyes and on the cheekbones below the eyes.

Do not put essential oils inside your ear canal.

References

  1. Schnaubelt, Kurt Ph.D., Advanced Aromatherapy, (1995), p. 96.
  2. Higley, Connie & Alan. Reference Guide for Essential Oils, (2012).
  3. Tisserand, Robert. Essential Oil Safety, Second Ed. (2014).