I still cringe when I see this photo.  It makes my stomach twist and my heart hurt.  Throughout my pregnancy I was almost obsessive about what I used in the shower, in my hair, in the air and on my skin because I had read a horrifying statistic: Two separate studies conducted in 2004 and 2008 by the Environmental Working Group (EWG) found that the umbilical cord blood taken from 10 newborn babies contained 200-plus environmental toxins — that’s before they’ve taken more than their first gasp of air or had their first sip of breast milk.

How could this be?

Many of the industrial chemicals, pollutants and pesticides that are present in the products we use every day cross the placenta to the fetus.  Meaning our babies absorb what we absorb knowingly and unknowingly as part of our daily beauty and hygiene routines.

Apparently there are 85,000 chemicals permitted for commercial use in the US and the Environmental Protection Agency hasn’t tested all of them to confirm they are safe. Many of them are in the products we use and the thought that these were what was found to be ending up in our babies and the implications of this on their long-term health sent me sick.  An average of 200 per baby — including polyaromatic hydrocarbons, dioxins, furans, pesticides, chemicals from flame retardants, industrial lubricants, plastics, consumer product ingredients, wastes from burning coal, gasoline and garbage, and chemicals including lead, mercury, methylmercury, perfluorochemicals (PFCs), polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), to name but a few.

So I made a pact with myself to be informed, read labels, buy better and make what I could at home.  I didn’t paint my nails, cut out makeup and actually really enjoyed preparing body washes and baby wipes from natural ingredients, like rose water and witch hazel and massage oils from sweet almond oil, etc.

I was proud and excited when Eden finally arrived and I could take her home to her “homemade pamper cabinet”!  However, while I was pretty much out of it after an emergency c-section my midwife bathed her in the hospital soap.  Johnson and Johnson chemical overload in her first few moments when I didn’t want anything touching her skin apart from me.  I was furious!

I am sure, thinking more rationally now I am not overloaded with hormones, that this little “miscommunication” didn’t do her much harm, but it made me even more committed to thinking about what I use with her, even now she is older.  Everything I use, if I can’t make it myself is as natural as possible and I am proud that I make this effort for her health and in support of a more sustainable world.

Of course now she is older essential oils are a big part of the ingredients I use because they are so powerful and effective.  However, in the same way as that it is important to know what is in the not so natural products available, it is important to know what is in the natural ones!  Not all Essential Oils are made equally.  Quality is paramount and this is often guided by how much you pay for them.  A cheaper essential oil is likely to have a lot more in it than just the essential oil itself (fillers, preservatives, carrier oils) and these are not the things you want to be putting on your skin.   The source of the oil is also important to its quality and a good quality essential oil is potent (read more here) and because of this potency we should also use essential oils with care and good guidance (why it is great to buy from a doTERRA Wellness Advocate who can advise you).

So what is an Essential Oil?

Have you ever torn a leaf and seen a little drop of liquid form at a tiny vein? That’s a drop of essential oil…like the life blood of the plant. These oils are extracted from flowers, leaves, barks and roots of plants. A single drop of essential oil contains the amount of active compound that would be found in 15 to 40 cups of medicinal tea.

Scientific discoveries about frequency have helped us understand how essential oils are so effective. Frequency is the measurable rate of electrical energy flow between two points. According to the late Dr. Royal Rife, a healthy human being resonates at a frequency between 62 and 78 megahertz during the day. Dr. Rife’s frequency generator indicated that every disease has a certain frequency as well. He taught that a substance with a higher frequency could destroy a disease with lower frequency. More recently, the pioneering scientist Bruce Tanio built the world’s first “bio- frequency monitor,” that can actually test a frequency. He teaches that when a cold or flu sets in, our body’s normal frequency drops to 58 Hz. Candida and fungus resonate at about 55. Barr and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome start at about 52. Recently, Dr. Gary Young, along with Tanio, got some very interesting results when they measured the frequencies of certain foods. Canned foods register at 0-15 Hz, dry herbs at 15-22Hz, fresh herbs at 20-27 Hz, and essential oils from 52 to 320 Hz, with pure grade oils having the highest.

So when we rub essential oils on our skin and they get absorbed into your bloodstream, or when we breathe them in via aromatherapy, and they directly affect our brain’s limbic system, which controls emotions, this is part of the reason why.  “Retuning” the body to its original frequency brings it into balance and restores its natural harmonic resonance – illness either doesn’t manifest or is resolved.

The other important reason that essential oils are so effective is the active chemicals that are in essential oils.  Each plant extract has chemical properties that are distinctive, such as anti-inflammatory or cell rejuvenation.  These healing properties are carried in the bloodstream to all areas of the body heal in the areas of need.  They also work for us like they would work for a plant – repelling insects is a great example.

If you would like to learn more about how to use Essential Oils for your health, please contact me.

As I know too well life can be busy, so if making your own solutions to day-to-day needs isn’t an option, but you want a range that you can trust to be natural and effective, visit my online apothecary for 100% natural mum essentials that are already made up for you and tried and tested as effective.

Happy creating (or shopping 😉 )!

Much love x

Please note I don’t advise using essential oils with babies until they are 3 months old and then only at the right dilutions, which I can talk you through.