Natural Vapor Rub for Baby: 5 Simple Ingredients

This chemical free All Natural Essential Oil Vapor Rub is a powerful head and sinus congestion relief for the whole family, but still gentle enough to use on babies.

Ive been trying to take on blogging recipes like a mad woman. My goal right now, is to get a recipe out, at least once a week. Ive wanted to post every other day, but Im trying not to set my goals so high that I can’t reach them or that my children and husband only ever see me parked on the sofa with my eyes glazed, staring into my computer screen. Who am I kidding, that’s exactly what they have been seeing lately. So one post a week will have to do for now.

Today Im taking a break from recipe writing because my youngest one has gotten a nasty cold. She’s 4 months old and its her first illness. In between nursing, rocking, bouncing, shhhhh-ing, and swaying, I’ve been researching essential oils that are safe but effective for congested infants. Im very careful about what I use on my children, especially when they are this young, even with all natural remedies.

We have been quite fortunate that the October colds the boys had didn’t make their rounds to Annabelle, but this time she got a healthy dose of those microbes when William, my almost 5 yr old, sneezed straight into her face. (face-palm) Bless his four year old heart, he seems to not realize when a sneeze is coming because he has sprayed my face with a sneeze several times. Oh, the joys of mom-life.

This is the time of year where viruses seam to plague our home until about April or May when the weather begins to warm. Poor little Annabelle looks and acts totally miserable.

Chemical Body Burden

Lately, I have been even more focused on exchanging chemical laden products for natural remedies. With over 80,000 chemicals produced and used in the United States, its concerning that the EPA only requires the testing of 200 of them and only 5 are being regulated.

The Chemical Body Burden, or the accumulation of chemicals found in each of us, is certainly connected to our health. Though it is difficult for science to quantify how much of each chemical built up in our bodies will cause disease, there is no doubt that at some point they do in fact cause diseases. For more on this topic, follow the links at the bottom of the page.

All-Natural Home One Product At a Time

Knowing this, the last 12 years I have gone in spurts of going natural. Some remedies have stuck, while others just don’t seem to be an effective substitution for the store bought products. Sometimes adequate is enough, good enough is ok, but some products need to do a good job or they won’t stick around long.

Has anyone else tried the No-Poo remedy using baking soda as a shampoo replacement and ACV as conditioner? I tried it several times, but it just didn’t work for my hair. Im not giving up though. Let me know in the comments below if you have found a good homemade substitute for shampoo and conditioner.

Putting our families and our own health before convenience is a difficult task, but one that is worth the extra effort. Taking one product at a time is much more manageable than all at once. A slower approach gives you time to try several replacements until you find what works for your family.

Check out my other All-Natural Personal Care Products to focus on replacing in the year 2022 below.

All Natural Vapor Rub for Infants

At the beginning of the fall season, when my boys first started bringing home colds, I knew I needed to have some natural remedies on hand, just in case Annabelle caught a cold. As a breastfed baby, she avoided the first few that were brought home, and miraculously so did I. However, in my experience, that wasn’t the norm and having natural remedies on hand would save me and Trey the trouble of having to run out and grab something in a hurry.

Most congestion relief products on the market these days are not suitable for infants. In fact, when I talked with her pediatrician their only suggestion was to use saline drops and suction the mucus. While this is effective, it wasn’t enough.

Other Methods I use for Head and Sinus Congestion relief for Infants and Children

1. All-Natural Vapor Rub
2. Humidifier with Essential Oils
3. Diffuse Essential Oils in a diffuser
4. Bathe them everyday, if you don’t already. This is one that I have found incredibly effective. I do not bathe my children every day. Several of us have eczema and daily bathing would be terrible for our skin. However, when my children get a respiratory illness, such as a cold, or the flu, bathing them daily is incredibly effective. Not only does the humidity of the bath help with congestion, but children also tend to wear germs all over their bodies and this helps to cut down on the transfer rate of germs to the rest of us.
5. Saline Drops and suction with a bulb syringe
6. Add a few drops (3 to 4) of lavender, tea tree, camomile, or eucalyptus essential oils to their bath water. Do not add all of them. I suggest one at a time to see how they react to each individual oil.

Essential Oils

Most of the remedies I use for my children during a cold are free or next to free, with the exception of essential oils. Though Essential oils can be pricy, I have found that they last quite a long time and they are worth the initial investment.

I have researched some of the major essential oil brands briefly and won’t go into why I use the brand I use, but Im confident that the NOW brand is a good product and its certainly one of the least costly brands on the market.

Most of the time we relate price to quality, and I have found that quality is not compromised here. The NOW brand is a multi product company, meaning they do not get all of their revenue from essential oils. They also buy in large quantities, giving them bulk discount prices. As a result, they can keep their prices lower than companies that only sell essential oils. They are also GC-IS tested which is the typical test that Essential Oils are put through. For more information on standards the NOW brand of essential oils keeps click here. These opinions are my own and I am not an affiliate with the NOW company.

This post contains affiliate links, which means I make a small commission at no extra cost to you. See my full disclosure here.

Equipment for Head and Sinus Congestion relief chest rub

• Hand mixer with Whisk Attachment or Kitchen Aid Stand Mixer with whisk attachment. (I have both and find that I like each one for different purposes. I have used both for this job and prefer my hand held mixer for smaller jobs like this.
• Pyrex Glass Measuring Cup– With these measuring cups I can measure and mix right in the same bowl.
• Rubber Scraper Spatula
• Container for Storage– I used these because I had extras on hand from when I transferred all of my spices into them but any small food storage container would also do.

5 Simple Ingredients for All Natural Vapor Rub

• Organic, Unrefined Shea Butter– this is a great brand. I’ve tried several of their products and been pleased
• Organic Avocado Oil- I buy mine from my local grocery store
• Lavender Essential Oil
• Eucalyptus Essential Oil
• Camomile Essential Oil

Other Essential Oils that can be added or substituted

• Tea Tree Essential Oil
• Peppermint Essential Oil – be careful with this one, it can cause irritation to little ones eyes, use in moderation.
• Pine Essential Oil- Use in moderation.
• Rosemary Essential Oil
• Lemon Essential Oil
• Clove or Cinnamon Essential Oil

Instructions for making All Natural Vapor Rub

First measure half a cup of Avocado Oil into your pyrex measuring cup, or a glass bowl.

Next add a half cup Shea Butter to your Avocado Oil.

Melt over a double boiler, or in a microwave just till the shea butter is melted. Give it a stir so that the oils are mixed well.

Next cool the mixture in the refrigerator for 20 minutes. This time may vary depending on how hot your oils are.

Once the oils begin to solidify around the edges of your pyrex measuring cup, take it out of the fridge. It should be cool enough at this point to add your essential oils. Add 15 drops of each essential oil to the Avocado and Shea butter. More is not better here. If you want to be able to use it on small children, then you will need to dilute the essential oils to not cause any irritation to their sensitive skin. Always start will a small amount before using it all over their chest.

Using your whisk attachment, whisk the oils to incorporate air. If the oils are too warm they won’t be ready to emulsify. I put my oils back in the refrigerator to cool them further and then try again in 10 minutes.Eventually they will whip up nicely. The mixture will come to soft peaks and harden the closer it gets to room temperature.

Using the 1:1 ration of Shea Butter to a liquid oil, like Avocado or Olive oil, allows the mixture to become solid, but also easily spreadable.

Other All Natural Living Product Recipes

• Dry Shampoo, Ive used this one for years and it does a great job!
• Body Butter Great to apply right after showers or baths to seal moisture into skin
• Facial Wash– wonderful exfoliating scrub that moisturizes at the same time.
• Face and Body Scrub
• DIY Natural Deodorant

For more information on the Chemical Burden on our bodies and other information about chemical effects on our health check out the links below.

https://www.akaction.org/tackling_toxics/body/

https://www.ewg.org/research/pollution-peopl