| ✨Hey there! This post may contain affiliate links, meaning we earn a commission if you make a purchase through our links, at no cost to you. Please read our disclosures for more info. |
Quick answer: children are more sensitive to essential oils than adults, so use fewer oils, lower dilutions and shorter diffusing times, and skip oils entirely for young babies. Keep peppermint, eucalyptus, rosemary and other high-menthol or high-cineole oils away from the faces of young children, never give oils by mouth, and store every bottle out of reach. Wintergreen and camphor are especially dangerous if swallowed. If a child swallows an essential oil, call Poison Help at 1-800-222-1222 right away, or 911 if the child is having trouble breathing, is very drowsy or has a seizure.
Essential oils smell pleasant and are sold in friendly little bottles, so it is easy to forget that they are highly concentrated plant chemicals. For children, that concentration matters. A dose that feels mild to an adult can be a lot for a small body, and a few sips from an open bottle can turn into a medical emergency.
This guide explains how safety changes as children grow, which oils deserve extra caution and the household habits that prevent most problems. For general background on what essential oils are and how they are made, see our complete essential oils guide.
Sources: Robert Tisserand and Rodney Young, Essential Oil Safety, 2nd edition (Churchill Livingstone, 2014), chapters on children and on toxicity of methyl salicylate, camphor and 1,8-cineole; America’s Poison Centers, essential oil exposure guidance and Poison Help line; U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), child-resistant packaging rule for liquids containing methyl salicylate, 16 CFR 1700.14; U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) OTC monograph limit on camphor concentration; National Association for Holistic Aromatherapy (NAHA) safety guidance; American Academy of Pediatrics HealthyChildren.org guidance on poison prevention. Checked October 2026. General information, not medical advice. Talk to your child’s pediatrician before using essential oils on or around a child with asthma, epilepsy or other health conditions.
Why Children React Differently
Children are not just smaller adults. Their skin is thinner and absorbs substances more readily, and they have more skin surface relative to their body weight. A drop of oil on a toddler’s chest therefore delivers a larger dose for their size than the same drop on a grown-up.
Breathing is another difference. Young children have narrow airways, and some essential oil compounds can trigger a reflex that slows breathing or causes the airways to tighten. Robert Tisserand and Rodney Young describe this concern most clearly for 1,8-cineole, the main compound in eucalyptus and rosemary oils, and for menthol, the main compound in peppermint oil.
Liver enzymes that break down many chemicals also mature over the first months and years of life. That is one reason safety references recommend much more conservative use with babies than with school-age children.
Finally, children explore with their mouths. A bottle left on a nightstand looks like a toy, and the sweet scent of many oils invites tasting. Swallowed essential oils are the cause of the most serious childhood poisonings linked to aromatherapy.
Essential Oil Safety by Age
Age guidance varies between references, so treat the stages below as general principles rather than strict cutoffs. When a reference you trust gives a more cautious rule for a particular oil, follow the more cautious rule.
Newborns and Young Babies
Most safety references, including Essential Oil Safety, advise against applying essential oils to newborns at all. Premature babies are even more vulnerable. Gentle care with plain, unscented products is the safer choice in these early months.
Avoid diffusing in a nursery, too. Babies cannot move away from a scent they dislike or tell you that their eyes sting.
Older Babies and Toddlers
If you decide to use oils with an older baby or toddler, keep things simple. Pick one mild oil, such as lavender, and use it at a very low dilution. Our essential oil dilution chart lists the lower percentages commonly recommended for children.
This is also the age when access is the biggest risk. Toddlers climb, open cabinets and can twist off many caps. Lock oils away rather than simply placing them on a high shelf.
School-Age Children
As children grow, the range of oils that can be used safely widens, but low dilutions still make sense. Older children can also learn simple rules: oils stay on the shelf unless a grown-up is helping, oils never go in the mouth or eyes and a diffuser is only switched on by an adult.
Teenagers
By the teen years, many references treat children much like adults, although sensible dilutions still apply. Teens who experiment with oils for acne or homemade cosmetics should know that more oil is not more effective. Overuse is a common cause of irritation and allergic reactions.
Oils That Need Extra Caution
Peppermint and Other High-Menthol Oils
Menthol gives peppermint its cooling feel. Applied near the nose or face of an infant or young child, menthol has been linked to breathing problems, which is why safety guides advise keeping peppermint oil well away from young children’s faces. Our peppermint oil safety guide covers this in more detail.
Eucalyptus, Rosemary and Other High-Cineole Oils
Oils rich in 1,8-cineole, including eucalyptus and rosemary, carry a similar caution. They should not be applied to or near the faces of young children. Swallowing eucalyptus oil can cause drowsiness, vomiting and seizures in children, and poison centers have documented serious cases from small amounts.
Wintergreen and Birch
Wintergreen and sweet birch oils are almost pure methyl salicylate, the same family of compounds as aspirin. Swallowing even a small amount can cause salicylate poisoning. A single teaspoon of wintergreen oil is often cited as containing salicylate roughly equal to more than 20 adult aspirin tablets.
Because of this danger, the Consumer Product Safety Commission requires child-resistant packaging for liquid products containing more than 5 percent methyl salicylate. Keep these oils out of the house entirely if you have young children, or lock them away.
Camphor
Camphor appears in some rubs and in camphor oil. Swallowed camphor can cause seizures quickly, sometimes within minutes. The FDA limits camphor in over-the-counter products to 11 percent for this reason. Never use camphor products on or near a young child’s face, and never leave them where a child can reach.
Other Oils With Known Risks
Clove, cinnamon bark and other oils high in eugenol or cinnamaldehyde are strong skin irritants. Hyssop, sage and other oils containing compounds called thujones are linked to seizures. Pennyroyal is toxic to the liver. None of these belong in a home routine with children.
Diffusing Around Children
Diffusing is often seen as the gentlest way to use essential oils, but it still exposes everyone in the room to the oil. A few habits make diffusing safer.
First, run the diffuser in a well-ventilated room for limited periods rather than all day. NAHA and other aromatherapy groups recommend intermittent diffusing, such as 30 to 60 minutes on followed by a break.
Second, keep the diffuser out of reach and out of the nursery. Hot or spilled water and oil can hurt a curious toddler, and many ultrasonic diffusers are easy to tip over.
Third, watch for signs of discomfort. Coughing, sneezing, watery eyes, headaches or a child who avoids the room are all reasons to switch the diffuser off and open a window.
Children with asthma need extra care because strong scents can trigger symptoms. Talk to your child’s doctor before diffusing in a home with an asthmatic child. Avoid adding oils to a humidifier as well; our guide on essential oils and humidifiers explains why.
Applying Oils to a Child's Skin
If you choose to apply an essential oil to an older child’s skin, always blend it into a carrier oil first. Undiluted oils can burn or sensitize skin, and a reaction in childhood can make a person allergic to that oil for life.
Do a patch test on a small area, such as the inner forearm, and wait 24 hours. Redness, itching, swelling or a rash mean the oil is not suitable.
Avoid applying oils to the hands, where they can be rubbed into the eyes or licked off. The back or the soles of the feet are easier to keep away from the face.
Use only a small amount and one oil at a time. Blends of several oils make it harder to identify the cause if a reaction happens.
Poison Prevention at Home
Most serious essential oil poisonings in children happen when a child finds an open or easy-to-open bottle. America’s Poison Centers report that essential oil exposures among young children have risen as the oils have become more popular. Prevention is mostly about storage.
- Store all oils in a locked cabinet or a lockable box, not just on a high shelf.
- Choose bottles with orifice reducers and child-resistant caps when available.
- Put bottles away immediately after use instead of leaving them on counters or nightstands.
- Never decant oils into drink bottles, cups or food containers.
- Keep roller bottles and blends in bags and purses out of children’s reach.
- Teach older children that oils are like medicine, not candy or juice.
Save Poison Help, 1-800-222-1222, in your phone. The line is free, confidential and answered by experts around the clock anywhere in the United States.
What to Do if a Child Swallows an Essential Oil
Act quickly, even if the child seems fine. Some oils cause symptoms within minutes, and others take a few hours.
- Take the bottle away and check the child’s mouth for any remaining oil.
- Call Poison Help at 1-800-222-1222 and have the bottle in hand so you can read the label.
- Call 911 instead if the child is having trouble breathing, is very sleepy or hard to wake, or has a seizure.
- Do not try to make the child vomit. Vomiting can pull oil into the lungs and cause a serious form of pneumonia.
- Follow the poison specialist’s instructions and watch the child closely for coughing, gagging, drowsiness or unusual behavior.
Coughing or choking after swallowing an oil is a warning sign that oil may have entered the airway. Poison centers treat this as a reason for medical evaluation.
If Oil Gets on the Skin or in the Eyes
For skin contact with an undiluted oil, wipe off as much oil as possible with a cloth soaked in a plain carrier oil, then wash with mild soap and water. Carrier oils help dilute and lift the essential oil, while water alone tends to spread it. Our carrier oils comparison explains the common options.
For eyes, poison centers generally advise flushing with lukewarm water for 15 minutes. Call Poison Help for guidance, and seek medical care if pain, redness or blurred vision continues.
Gentler Ways to Create Calm Without Oils
Many parents reach for oils to help children wind down at night. Often the routine matters more than the scent. A warm bath, dim lights, a short story and a consistent bedtime help many children relax. Our evening wind-down routine has ideas that work for the whole family.
If you enjoy the scent of lavender at bedtime, a lavender sachet tucked away from the bed or a short diffusing session before the child enters the room keeps the exposure low.
Frequently Asked Questions
Are essential oils safe for babies?
Most safety references advise against using essential oils on newborns and young babies, and against diffusing in a nursery. Talk to your pediatrician before using any oil around an infant.
Which essential oils are most dangerous for children?
Wintergreen, birch and camphor are among the most dangerous if swallowed. Peppermint, eucalyptus and rosemary should be kept away from young children’s faces because of breathing concerns.
Can I diffuse essential oils with kids in the room?
Many families do, but keep sessions short, ventilate the room, keep the diffuser out of reach and stop if anyone coughs or seems uncomfortable. Skip diffusing near babies and talk to a doctor if your child has asthma.
What should I do if my child drinks essential oil?
Call Poison Help at 1-800-222-1222 right away, or 911 if your child has trouble breathing, is very drowsy or has a seizure. Do not make your child vomit.
How should I store essential oils with kids at home?
Keep oils in a locked cabinet or box, use child-resistant caps, and put bottles away right after each use.
