Hi Hetal and Everyone,

Is it true that rubbing lavender oil on the baby's mattress makes the baby to sleep longer???
Is it safe??

Regards,
Bhindhu Hetal replied. Hi,
its calming,relaxing,tranquilizing..

it reduces sinuses,mgranes, headaches, hangovers, tiredness, tensions, anxiety/fears,,exhaustion,teething pains,physical pains/body pains,,..so it will help not only child but also adults to soothe them to sleep/sound sleep,,esp if ne of the above are the reasons of waking up at midnights or causing disturbed sleep.
watch for spanish lavender,,its stimulates senses and doesnt have above qualities..
but this DOES NOT mean that it will put your child to sleep and would be the end-of-all night wakings,,,but it will soothe to some extent or let me add reduce the crying response of your child,,if pain was severe and its occasnal.

my personal experience with this oil has been good as well as bad..
i couldnt come to conclusion...
it was during my dd first molars( around 13months ),,
since morning 630,,she was fussy,,crying,,didnt want to eat food, nothing,,,didnt leave me,wanted to be picked up,,,tylnol,motrin,nothin worked,icechips worked for an hour or so,,thn she was wild again..and considering that i was pregnant and had bad swelling on my back,,i needed sleep/rest or atleast rest my back and and it was already late noon,,..took her to ride, rocked her, visit to park,,but nothing soothed her,,didnt eat food,,had some apple juice thats all..checkd her gums,,found extremly red swellng on first molars place...
i had used this oil before pregnancy for relaxing myself,,and was aware of its usage....so i applied 2 drops on my clothes and 1-2 drops on her bedding/crib sheet,,after 30mins,,my 13month old slept for 3hours with sound sleep,,which gave me good energy to recharge myself,,i took a nap too.

but yes,,after that(3hours),,even though the smell was strong enough,,,she wokeup crying and she was just the same violent and wanted to be picked up,,,she did this all evening,,almost until she couldnt cry longer, even after motrin dosage that was repeated every 3hours,,and finally she gave up and slept at night 2,
just the next day morning, when she wokeup at 7,,her morning smile showed me her lil teeth buds,, 2 first molars(that are replaced by premolars in permanent teeth) and 1 molar were out !!! she was perfectly fine though was badly hungry,tired,had a good meal,and slept again for 6hours..
but i have to thank this oil for giving her 3hours of sound sleep which also gave me rest.
but at the same time,,i am not sure what to judge or come to conclusion,,,,whether it was oil that made her sleep or it was her prolonged crying for 4-5hours which tired her and made her sleep,,..or it was motrin that worked after 1.5hours,,or she slept because she didnt rest/sleep since morning,,,
so that was my personal experience with this oil..and i was not able
to come to conclusion about the effectivenes of this oil !!!!
but i can tell you that,, to some extent it does help,,,its natural,gentle and well,,,worth a try if it gives you rest when you can NO
MORE handle the fussiness,,like i did..this was my first usage of oil
on my dd,,and i would never use it again,,,
i would prefer giving her medication every 3hours until her pain is gone or ask/call my dr or make avisit,, thn to try this oil !!
that day i did the same, but couldnt get my dr...my oncall dr was ok with me to use the oil when i asked him, after making sure that i knew the dosage and usage...also i do rem he
asked me about the contents in the oil,, even after i told him that it was
pure expensive lavender oil !!!!

make sure that dont make your baby habituate to this,,because he
has to learn naturally to put himself to sleep or soothe himself.. and no aids are required if baby is comforted, healthy and is out of disturbances.

recently there was a research that
showed that lavender has a mild sedative which helps in better
sleep along with its antispasmodic(relaxing muscles) qualities...ne
aid that has sedative is never good for either adults or children !!!!

it dpends on the purity of lavendr oil which is rare to find these days,,also the use of lavender, either alone or combined with diff herbs or oils and balms are not regulated by United states food and drug administration..so unlike other supplements or herbal treatments,, this oil is not subjected to ne specific scientific testing just to prove the claims of its safety or effectiveness..

the strength of this oil or let me say effectiveness of this oil,, all dpends on the brand or manufacturer..since its not regulated by US FDA,,labelling of this brand might not be accurate or content might not necessarily have the original active ingrediant or true lavender...
as far as pediatric aspect is concerned :
1. taking orally is not recommnded for children under 10years.
2.may be used topically in diluted concentrations to treat skin injuries.
3.may be used as relaxing aromatherapy for children above 1 year.some drs recomnd this oil for children below 1year or even 6months,, esp when children health conditions were deteriorating due to lack of sleeplessness/restlessness or hyperactive,overstimulation or extremly high dosage of some medicine gave them side effects of insominia or sleeplessness or anxty....otherwise its unlikely that recmend this oil usage for makin baby sleep !
some cases where the babies need to sleep or rest them for longer hours in order to recover with proper medication,,some drs recomnd using this oil.

4.when under antibiotics or ne other supplements, avoid taking ne kind aromatherapy,,esp when the responses from baby are to be monitored,,as in some cases,,its expected for baby to show the side effects of medicine or ne other severe health conditions,,and
with this oil,,it will soothe him and so he wont respnd,,,but internally his body is in harm or left unmonitored and in future might lead to severe or let me say direct emergency case.

5.these oils contain active substances that trigger the side effects and interact with other medications,,and even though that medications are safe for child and child did not have ne side effect(without use of lavender oil or under normal conditions),,when
this oil was used without the knowledge of child dr,,the dr had to
change the medication,,which lead to prolonged recovery of from sickness..
this hampers futher in growth of child...

6.although side effects are very rare,, some kids might get habituated to this treatment,,they will not be able to depend on thr own natural body responses to make themselves relax or
sleep,,and will always depend on these oil to relax themselves..and
when the intake prolongs for more than certain months or years,,there is a possibility that human body might get allergic reactions to it,,that are internally disturbing even in normal
environmental conditions.and body doesnt respond in normal way,, in normal conditions,,making them sensitive to many other factors
that are not the factors affecting health in normal conditions.

7.some kids have shown the effects like nausea, vomitng,
headache or body chills when inhalation or absoprtion of lavender
has happnd,,which means that it might be harmful to your child in
long run or even in short span of time,,if your child is sensitive to it.

8.pregnant and breastfeeding women should avoid using this
oil.and babies who are breastfeeding should avoid ne direct or indirect usage of this oil...

9.the other side effects include rashes, burns or internal skin eczema,,when the lavender oil was used over the recommended dosage..esp this was caused when it was applied directly on the skin without the combination of ne other herb or oil...and it also depends on skin sensitivty to it...

ask your dr :
1.about the brand that he would recommend.and ask him the dosage
2.for application DIRECT(on skin or with base oil or water) OR INDIRECT(like bedding,clothes)..
3.use of these herbs or these kind of aromatherapy should be done only under the supervision of a practitioner knowledge esp the one who is in field of botonical medicine or let me say a renowned herbal/ayurvedic dr. in US, most drs khave known the good brands and its recommended dosage..

nething that aids externally other than natural ways to soothe them

from pain or makes them sleep, or help relieve from pain,anxiety,,always has some bad effects,,,though mild,,it could lead to severe other long term problems....thn it dpends on child acceptance, responses and dosage levels and also alot on how pure or true the actual herb is.....

so always ask your dr if your baby needs that kind of aromatherapy..or not..

and its better to rem onething,,soothing in natural way would be far acceptable though very hard and challenging,,,,thn ne other complication that might occur when such aids are used,,and its difficult to roll back to normal conditions.

Hope this gives you clear idea about such aids and i hope your 2 line question,,for which answer was longer thn even i expected,,,,didnt bore you !!

you have a good time !