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The topic of essential oils gives rise to varying opinions & reactions, & to help us understand this often misunderstood topic, we invited our friend Erin Owings, who runs The Supernatural Project, to have a discussion!
As the mother to two children who have struggled with Laryngomalacia, which can greatly inhibit a baby's ability to breathe, Erin discovered the power of essential oils out of necessity, to help her children thrive.
The immense difference that a few simple products made had a huge impact on Erin & sparked a continued journey into healthier living & better home practices, with more natural products & habits.
We get to hear from Erin about the evolution of her approach & how she has slowly transformed the way things are done in their family, swapping out almost all of the chemical-based cleaning & care products for cheaper, & healthier, natural alternatives.
One of the greatest things about this story is that it illustrates just how possible & approachable a healthier life is, so tune in with us to hear all the great wisdom that Erin has to share!
An introduction to Erin's life! Her career, family, & philosophy towards managing her time.
Erin's pregnancy & how motherhood shifted the course of her life.
Unpacking Laryngomalacia & the difficulties that Erin's daughter experienced.
How Erin was introduced to essential oils (EOs).
The success that Erin experienced using EOs to help her daughter.
Safe practices for EO use & info on doTerra's transparency.
Using EOs with young ones; dilutions, carrier oils, & starting at a low dosage.
Troubleshooting reactions & accidents.
Non-toxic household hacks from Erin; cleaning products, personal care, & lifestyle changes.
Erin's method for DIY baby wipes!
The insightful & exciting classes that Erin hosts on the topic of healthier homes.
Closing advice from Erin about advocating & making the most of the important things.
“Essential oils are not regulated, what is put into them. It can be really scary if you Google & you read about them, & you see these horror stories, it's coming from companies that aren't transparent about what is in those bottles.” — Erin Owings[31:37]
“If you do have something that goes wrong, or you have a reaction to something, always, always, always apply a carrier oil to dilute it down. Don't get water.” — Erin Owings[44:16]
“You can make laundry soap. You can make any of it. It's so inexpensive, but it's also safe & you know what's in it.” — Erin Owings[55:19]
“The smallest change can be the biggest thing for your little ones & for you. It can serve you in such big ways, I think.” — Erin Owings[59:28]
The Supernatural Project on Instagram
Sensory Plus Essential Oil Class
All Things Sensory on Instagram
All Things Sensory on Facebook
[00:00:01] RH: Hey there. I’m Rachel.
[00:00:03] JH: And I’m Jessica. This is All Things Sensory by Harkla. Together, we're on a mission to help children, families, therapists and educators live happy, healthy lives.
[00:00:12] RH: We dive into all things sensory, special needs, occupational therapy, parenting, self-care, and so much more. In each episode, we share raw, honest, fun ideas and strategies for everyone to implement into daily life.
[00:00:25] JH: Thank you so much for joining us.
[EPISODE]
[00:00:34] RH: Hey, friends. Welcome back to another episode of All Things Sensory by Harkla. You're listening to Rachel and Jessica, and this is Episode 146.
[00:00:44] JH: Today, we are going to have a conversation with Erin. Without spoiling it too much, we're going to talk about something that's a little bit controversial, but also a really great topic.
[00:00:56] RH: More holistic, if you will. I'd say more holistic than controversial.
[00:01:00] JH: People are still very controversial about it.
[00:01:02] RH: That's because people just get their panties in a wad about everything. If you're listening to our podcast, then you guys know we talk about all sorts of controversial stuff, and you're still listening. That's great.
[00:01:13] JH: Go into this episode with an open mind, whether you agree with it or not. Just listen and enjoy.
[00:01:22] RH: If you don't believe in it –
[00:01:24] JH: That's okay.
[00:01:25] RH: You will after you listen to this episode, after hearing Erin's story.
[00:01:28] JH: If you still don't believe in it, that's okay, too.
[00:01:30] RH: It is fine. We'll still love you. Okay, let's meet Erin.
[CONVERSATION WITH ERIN]
[00:01:34] RH: Hi, Erin. How are you today?
[00:01:36] EO: I'm good. How are you guys?
[00:01:39] JH: We're so good.
[00:01:41] RH: We are excited to have you. We've done a very minimal episode on essential oils, but we're happy to have you as our expert on this topic today.
[00:01:53] EO: I'm so excited to be here. I know we've talked about this for a couple of years. I am excited to do it.
[00:02:00] JH: Finally did it.
[00:02:01] EO: I don't know if I'm an expert, but I'm giving my best, because I love this topic.
[00:02:07] JH: Perfect. Well, before we get started, we do have five secret questions to ask you.
[00:02:12] EO: Okay.
[00:02:13] JH: Okay. Ready? Okay, so the first question is, what is the most recent TV show that you binge watched?
[00:02:19] EO: Oh, my gosh. I'm worse at TV, because I actually gave it up. I turned that off in December, probably actually in November. My husband is binge watching Yellowstone. I work at night in our room, because we have no office. I sit in our room and I work. I hear all of it. I feel I've watched it in some ways. He'll be talking to somebody about an episode and then I chime in and I'm like, “I have no idea what I'm talking about.” I have heard bits and pieces and seeing little bits of it. I like it, because I also work on a ranch. It's very intriguing to me; the most that I've seen in the last few months.
[00:03:04] JH: Why did you cut out TV?
[00:03:07] EO: I don't have time for it. I really don't right now. In this season of my life, I just realized that it is something that I just waste time on. Wait, I should say I'm lying. I totally lied to you. Again, this is the most embarrassing thing to admit, but I do watchThe Real Housewives of Salt Lake City. I do. Yup. That's my one show a week that I will watch on a Wednesday night. It's so intriguing to me, just because I can’t believe that people live like they do.
[00:03:43] JH: Oh, my gosh.
[00:03:43] EO: Then they act it the way we do, and it being so close to where we are, I was very intrigued by that. Yes, I do. I've watched that. It's so embarrassing to admit to, but it’s something that I do love.
[00:03:56] RH: I didn’t know there was a Salt Lake City, Utah Real Housewives. Are they all Mormon? That's off the rails.
[00:04:07] EO: It also it also makes this really interesting, because that's another part that I was really drawn to. They talk about Mormon church a ton. Two of them, I think. Is it two? No, only one is still actively Mormon, but she also owns a vodka line and tequila line.
[00:04:26] RH: These Mormons are very business-savvy.
[00:04:29] EO: The other ones have been excommunicated, or left.
[00:04:33] RH: Oh, my God.
[00:04:35] JH: Maybe I do need to watch it. I don't really like reality TV, but I'm intrigued just from that.
[00:04:41] RH: Can we have a girl’s night on Wednesday and watch it?
[00:04:45] EO: I've read all the books about that. I'm so curious about that religion, so then that on top of it. It is interesting, because they don't care what they say about it, so it’s very interesting.
[00:04:56] JH: Oh, my gosh. It’s so interesting.
[00:04:57] RH: Good to know. Good to know.
[00:04:59] JH: All right.
[00:05:01] RH: Next question, would you rather swim with dolphins or penguins?
[00:05:06] EO: Oh, my gosh. I'm probably going to say, dolphins.
[00:05:11] RH: Was it a hard question? Because I wanted to make sure that they were comparable, because I feel nothing can be swimming with dolphins, but I was like, “Swimming with penguins would be fun.”
[00:05:19] JH: It probably also be colder.
[00:05:22] EO: That's why [inaudible 00:05:22]. I was like, “I’m going to keep warm.”
[00:05:27] RH: All right, this is your favorite question.
[00:05:30] JH: I feel like, because we've only asked this one other time, right?
[00:05:32] RH: Yes. Maybe twice.
[00:05:34] JH: Maybe twice. Okay, so you have two children, correct?
[00:05:39] EO: Yup.
[00:05:40] JH: Okay. Which of your two children do you like better?
[00:05:47] EO: Prue. No, I’m just – Right now, it’s Prue. I just said it, because she's been through the night and [inaudible 00:05:56]. No, I’m just kidding. What's funny about that question, though – Jessica, you have – do you have two?
[00:06:05] JH: I have one.
[00:06:07] EO: Do you have two kids? Oh, one. Okay. I didn’t have that feeling when I was pregnant with our second. I was like, “How can I ever love another child as much as I love this one?” I really did. I had that feeling at the end of my pregnancy, like nervous, because you just feel like, there's no way that you could. Then when you have that second one, it's like, your heart doubles. People tell you that and it sounds so cliché. It just does. It’s so fast. You'd have moments in the day where you're like, “You’re my favorite child.”
[00:06:40] JH: Yeah. Right now in this moment.
[00:06:43] EO: Because you're being so good right now. It's just so awesome. It's just so awesome to watch the two of them. I loved what Rachel shared on Instagram this morning about never comparing them, because of how it can really create that sibling rivalry. I never thought about it that way. It made me change how I talked to them this morning. I saw the few times being like, “Oh, don't say it that way, because that really – that could cause her to look at him differently, or for him to look at her differently.” I thought, “Whoa.” It's those little things that are so big.
[00:07:16] RH: Little changes. Yeah.
[00:07:19] EO: Yeah. I love that question, though.
[00:07:22] RH: We laugh at that one. Okay, do you prefer the mountains, or the beach?
[00:07:31] EO: Oh, this looks so hard. I think I have to say the mountains.
[00:07:37] RH: Okay.
[00:07:38] EO: Yeah. I love [inaudible 00:07:39], but I am nature hiking, all of that stuff. I’d pick that any day over walking on the beach.
[00:07:48] JH: Okay. There it is. All right, last question is our favorite. What is your sensory quirk?
[00:07:55] EO: Oh, my gosh. I feel like, I probably have like a [inaudible 00:07:58].
[00:07:59] RH: We all do.
[00:08:02] EO: I get completely sensory overload, when I hear someone chewing.
[00:08:11] JH: We've gotten that one a lot.
[00:08:11] RH: This is definitely our most common one. Yes.
[00:08:16] EO: That for sure. That and then I have one other one that comes to mind right away. I can't have – we have a TV in our bedroom, which another say, don't – I have to watch the housewives on something. Then we have one in our bathroom, a little one. Sometimes, if they're both on, I cannot have that over the edge. If I can hear two different things going at the same time.
[00:08:39] JH: That’s too much. Yup.
[00:08:42] RH: Yeah, that's a very common one as well. I swear, I tell Daniel, probably not even kidding, 17 times a day, “Can you turn on the TV? Can you stop picking notches? Can you just turn that down for a minute, please?” I can't handle it.
[00:08:58] EO: That’s so funny. I feel that's a more female thing that I've experienced. My mom does that too already. She’s like, “Can you keep it down? It’s so loud.” I do that too. Yeah.
[00:09:07] JH: So funny.
[00:09:07] RH: All right. Well, now that everyone knows your deepest, darkest secrets, tell us who you are, what you do, why you do it, how you do it, all the things.
[00:09:17] EO: Okay. Well first, I'm a mom of two. I have a four-year-old and a one-year-old. Before they came along, I worked full-time as a dental hygienist. Then I also have a degree of a Bachelor of Science in Public Health. I'm very much a Western medicine background. Then, I am now a wellness advocate for doTERRA; I've done for the last four years. It's an interesting place to sit, because I was always taught more of that Western medicine. Really, to be honest, considered alternative, or holistic options, until we had our daughter and we came along, because you guys both know, that flipped everything upside down in your life in the best way. It makes you start to think about what you're doing and what you're using and all of the things that will affect your child. That's how I got here.
How do I do all the things? I feel like a very hot mess way. No, I've become a very planned person and not – I wouldn't say I'm a type A. I have some OCD, I think, qualities, where I like things clean. I mean, obviously, if you are – if you become a dental hygienist, you like clean and organized. I like all of that, but I'm not with time or anything like that, I tend to be somebody that will just fly by the seat of my pants. I'm not very planned out.
Now within the last few months, I've realized that I do so much better with structure, if I have it laid out. That's part of the reason why I have to give up TV. I don't have time for that, if I want to really focus on and do some of these things. Now that our little guy is a little bit older, I have more time to figure out what my priorities are and where I want to put that time and energy into. Sorry. Turn that off. It's just become a lot clearer that that's why I have to do it. I have to have Google Calendar planned out for three years with all my things each day and help me big time.
[00:11:34] JH: Yes. For sure. You said, that changed when you became a mother. Was there a specific event that happened that changed you?
[00:11:46] EO: We had a huge event. I had a really normal and healthy pregnancy, for the most part. I at the end, I had to be on modified bed rest, but it was something very normal. You hear that all the time. Then we had our daughter. Literally on the first day of her life, I knew there was something wrong with her. Nothing felt good about childbirth. Nothing was off. Nothing crazy happened. Just and now that I’ve been there twice, I can look back and say like, that was such a different experience than the really good experience I had when I had our son.
I actually said to my husband, when we were getting ready to leave the hospital. I said, “She passed all the tests. Everything was great.” I said to him – I started crying as we were discharging. He's like, “What is wrong?” I think, he just was thinking, “You've got a lot of emotions and no sleep in the last 48 hours and all these things.” I said to him, “There's something not right with her. I don't know what it is yet, but I know it's going to be hard.”
We've talked about that conversation a few times, because he's like, “I remember you saying that, but I really brushed it aside. Because it was like, you're exhausted. We just need to get you home.” For the first four weeks of her life, nobody would listen to me. I think that that's another way. Now I think about it and I'm grateful, because it got me to where I am right now. I would not be talking to you guys about this topic, if everything had gone right. It's just how it works and that's life.
For four weeks, I literally called and screamed and knocked down doors, trying to get someone to listen to me, because our daughter, she was born with an airway disorder. It's called the Laryngomalacia. It’s not actually rare. It's very prominent, but most people, their kids are mild and they never make it to an EMT, because it's passed off as reflux. It may be treated with medication. The child outgrows it and they never have anything scary, like we did.
Oftentimes, they may even know in the hospital like, “Oh, this baby could be LM.” They're not going to say that, because they know it’s going to grow out of it. Well, our daughter’s ended up being severe. I finally had a physical therapist that listened to me. As she was working on her, we've been talking about it and she kept saying to me – she said to me one day, “Keep pushing. There's something wrong. You're right, that there's something going on.” We had feeding issues. I would feed her for four hours at a time, and I wasn't getting her full.
Lactation, everyone tried to help me, but everyone kept saying like, “Oh, she's just learning and she's working things out.” I think that's a way to say it a lot often. Then when I got to getting therapy, our physical therapist was like, the day that I start, Prue was 10-days-old. She said, “Oh, my gosh. You've been feeding her. You've been breastfeeding her?” I said, yeah. This is while she's doing her oral evaluation. She said to me, “How? I have no idea how you've been feeding her.” She said, “She's going to lose her suck and she's going to lose it in a day or two. We got to change some stuff, or she’s going to be on feeding tube this week.” I was like, “Oh, my gosh.”
I was panicked, but I also felt like, someone's listening. Somebody is hearing me and I knew right then, this is where you trust your gut. You don't know and you're a new mom and you're tired and you're trying all these things. Sometimes I think, they’re sitting there and you’re hearing this and you feel something in your gut and you’re a new mom, or you’re a mom that has a five-year-old, that you’ve been wondering, just because somebody at the doctor’s office tells you, “No, they’re fine. They’ll grow out of it.” If you feel that deep down, you got to trust it. That was just what kicked off for me.
By the time she was six-months-old, she then drew so many procedures, so many appointments, so many breathing treatments, medications. Every ultrasound in stand, we can imagine. Then a life-saving surgery at seven weeks. Then when they got in, they’d pull this – they just recently pulled us. Actually, one of our specialists said it’s the worst case they’ve ever seen in Idaho, possibly. Yeah. I had three EMTs sent me home from the ER. One of them said, “I think she’ll be fine.”
[00:15:55] RH: I think.
[00:15:56] JH: Oh, my gosh. I’ll lose my mind.
[00:15:58] EO: One offered to get us on a plane to Salt Lake that night, but they also made me feel like I was overreacting. Looking back into it and we both say, “We should’ve been on that plane. No doubt.” We were really hesitant to have a second, because it’s very common. Once you have a child with LM, what they see is the children after that, usually have it and are more severe. I kept thinking, we have the most severe –
[00:16:25] RH: Oh, my gosh.
[00:16:26] EO: How can it get any worse? It can. We’re actually really the lucky ones, because a lot of these airway kids, they have so many other things that are going on at the same time. They have all these minor things, or major, major chromosomal issues. We are lucky. Our kids both have LM and both are going to be thriving, healthy kids. That’s all you can ask. That’s all you can ask in the entire world when you have a child, is that they’re healthy. Yeah.
I was really nervous, but I also felt like I’m not going to be that person that lives in fear. People would make the comment, “We’ve been through it before, so you can do it again.” It’s such a hard thing to hear as a parent, because I held our daughter upright for the first year of her life day and night. I sat up in our bed. That’s how I slept. That’s why I say I look like her grandma and not her mom sometimes, because it’s like I didn’t sleep. I did not lay down to sleep for an entire year. I was up in the night, reading about it and trying to learn. That’s one of the hard things with something like LM, or any of the airway disorders.
There’s not a lot that are known. I still see a lot of our doctors, they can’t pronounce Laryngomalacia. The one that can is our ENT, but that’s also – the ones that deal with it day in and day out. You have to take on that advocate role for your child and you have to speak up, because no one else is going to. Kids can die from this. They can die and they – parents are ignored, unfortunately. That is something I’ve seen a lot. A lot of the moms that I’ve worked with after this – I have a blog site, so I try to work with whoever reaches out to me. Usually, it’s calls and text in the middle of the night. I know, it’s what I can do, because I really didn’t have anyone when I went through it and it can be such a depressing and lonely space to be in.
There’s a great community of parents that stick together and help each other. Unfortunately, they all have the same story of their medical providers not hearing them. I think that that’s such a disservice. They obviously can’t do – can’t know everything about everything. This is a big one. These are babies who struggle to be and breathe. Those are the only two things babies really need to do.
[00:18:50] JH: Quick question. Did you say that both of your kiddos have it?
[00:18:54] EO: Yeah. Our son was born with it. His, my God, has been moderate. I am so nervous. Different pregnancy to go through part and really was intentional. I used a lot of my oils and apply to that take of support, like emotional support through it. Because my OB asked me. He was so great. He asked me a couple weeks before I was going to have Nixon. He said, “How are you feeling about labor?” He asked that question to everybody right before labor. I know he’s asking more about like, “How are you feeling about the pain, and especially the second time when it’s coming through and you know what’s coming.”
I said to him – I said, “I’m not worried about labor, the physical part of it. I’m fine with that. I can do that all day. I’m nervous to the end.” Sorry. I don’t talk about this often, but I was – Yeah. I was so nervous. To me, I’m going to find out like, “Are we going to do this again?” I am with a toddler, because then you have got on top of it. Especially of your needy toddler going. If you hold a toddler, let me tell you. If you hold a baby for the first year of their life on you, I think they're attached to you at the head, probably for the rest of their lives. I think we're always going to have that.
I was so nervous. Like, “Uh. What am I going to do to her? Because I don't want to be hospitalized another baby and having her at home upset that I'm gone.” It's such a roller coaster. He was so great. He just said to me like, “I'm going to be there. I’m going to help you.” I knew that, because of our history that we have specialists that said, “We're on it. The second that baby is here, if you need something, we hear you.” Probably because they were so tired of me.
They knew that I’d be knocking at the door hard this time. I wouldn't take no for an answer being at all. Yeah. He's been moderate. He's had bad reflux, but we can deal with reflux, because that's a normal baby thing, right? He hasn’t once scared me, or did. He's never stopped breathing home, she did that. Those are the things that, you know. Everything felt different from the moment I had him. His birth felt different, the way he ate right away. I actually put off even testing him. I didn't even want to know. I just didn't. Then I realized, knowledge is power. I need to know, because if there are certain things that come up with him, I need to know if he has it.
[00:21:28] JH: For sure.
[00:21:29] EO: Yeah. No surgery for him.
[00:21:33] JH: A little bit off topic, but just really quick. I'm curious, is there a specific cause that they know of? Is it a genetic component? What is that?
[00:21:45] EO: That's such a good question, because it's so controversial. They will tell you, it's not genetic. If you're in the group of parents, it is very genetic. There's these little polls and posts all the time in our private Facebook group. I can remember, I think there's 20,000 people in that group are saying. It's not a small group. It's huge. Everyone's response is always like, “We have four kids. Three of them have it and it started with the second. The second have it and then the following two.”
There's very few people that I have found that have one with it, and then have one just don't have it after. It seems to be more in succession once you have one. The crazy part is my sister, she has two little boys. Her youngest has it.
[00:22:31] JH: Oh, wow.
[00:22:32] EO: It also runs on my brother-in-law side. His sister, her little boy had it. Neither of them required surgery. They weren't anything compared to Prue, but they had their own issues for sure. They had their own struggles that aren't normal baby things to work out. Yeah, that's wild. I thought back to it and actually said to me, I was talking to my mom and my aunt, not that long ago about how I thought back to it. My grandma, she's no longer here, but she would tell me stories about when she was little, she grew up in Ireland. She used to tell us, she'd say, “Oh, my siblings,” and she had quite a few siblings, used to say that – she’d say, “They get so frustrated, because I didn't have to do chores.”
I said, “Why? Why didn't you do chores?” She's like, “Well, because I was a blue baby.” That's what she would say. She was a nurse. She said, “I was a blue baby. I never asked what that meant. I always assumed,” even when in high school, when she talked about it, I would think – I thought she meant she had the umbilical cord maybe wrapped or something at her. I actually really wonder, isn't that, and maybe the mom passes it, because none of us have it. None of us had problems with reflux, or anything as kids. That was my dad's mom.
Then maybe my sister and I carry it, because both of our kids have it. My brother has a little girl and she hasn't had any problems. I'm curious to know, but there's got to be some genetic component to it. There has to be.
[00:24:00] JH: So interesting.
[00:24:00] EO: Our doctors, our specialists, besides the ENT, all of our specialists said to me like, I’d be shocked if when I was pregnant. Before I even got burned, I asked them, “What do you think our odds are?” Because I want to hear their take. One of them said, less than 8% chance. When he said it, I’m like, “No. I believe it's probably 98% chance.” I just don't think they know a lot about it.
[00:24:24] JH: Yeah. That’s so interesting.
[00:24:26] RH: Well, I'm so glad that you so openly shared your story, because I'm sure that we either have someone listening who has gone through it, or maybe could have a child and be going through it and they'll at least have that in the back of their mind to be able to advocate to their provider and say, “Let's just rule this out.” We always say, when to out rule it, right?
[00:24:47] EO: Oh, my gosh. For sure. That was one thing. I'll say this really quick, because it can even happen in your conversations at home. They saw another specialist about something, a diaper rash. It was a pediatrician. That's what it was. It was something that we didn't really regularly see. We saw him on the weekend. We're in there for a diaper rash. I'm like, “What do you think about for breathing?" I brought it up wherever I can. I can see Andrew like, "Oh my —"
I wanted just somebody else. We started talking, and he talked about us. He talked to us about Laryngomalacia in that moment. He said to me, “If you want to see an ENT, I'll give you a referral.” I'm like, “Yes.” I said, “Please. I want ENT. I want to see this. I already had done my homework. I would like to see this specific ENT. I want to see her right now.” It was over a weekend. He's like, “Here's your referral.” When we got in the car, my husband said like, “You don't think we need to see – actually see the ENT, do you?”
Because the specialist had just said, or the pediatrician had just said like, “I'm not worried about it. I'm not worried about hers. If you want to see somebody.” I said to Andrew, I said, "I need to see that ENT for them to tell me, “Nope, she's fine.” That is my best-case scenario." I hope that's what they say. I don't care about if that provider, in network, out of network, I just need them to look at her and tell me she's fine. I think it's so important that if you do feel that, even if you both don't feel it, when you are the mom, I just feel you're so in-tune about being — and you're feeding it. You just got to listen to it.
[00:26:21] JH: We do. All right, moving on.
[00:26:24] RH: Say it again, Laryngomalacia.
[00:26:30] EO: It’s Laryngomalacia. I always say like, you think of Durango. It’s rang Durango. It is Laryngomalacia. [Inaudible 00:26:37].
[00:26:39] RH: Laryngomalacia. Okay. Prue’s Laryngomalacia – I’m going to get it.
[00:26:45] EO: You can call it LM.
[00:26:46] JH: LM.
[00:26:47] RH: Her LM is basically what started you off on this wellness journey through doTERRA, through it using the essential oils, because that's how you helped her breathe for so long.
[00:26:59] EO: Yes. I had somebody reach out to my sister, who I didn't know, but my sister knew her through another friend. She's a mom of four, an awesome mom of four and a registered nurse. She had heard what we were going through. She reached out to my sister and just said, “Do you think Erin would be interested in trying natural options?” My sister said, “Yeah, I think she would. I think she would try anything.” I was at that desperate point of, what am I going to do to help her little body, after we've overloaded nerve with all these things?
Obviously, we needed those things at that time. I felt that, that she'd been through all this and I just thought, “Okay, I'm going to clean up whatever I can, where I can.” I met up with my friend, Morgan, who's become one of my really good friends and runs our team that I'm on. She just went through a few simple things and was like, “Why don't you try these things for and just see what they do?” To be really honest, because of that more Western medicine part of me, because that's what I just said, always in my head. I thought, “Okay, I'll try it, but I wasn't expecting anything.”
I was really like, I did it for two oils, for onGuard and for Breathe. For immune support and respiratory support. I ordered a full kit. They all showed up and I thought like, “Well, I know I'm not going to use any of them, but I'm going to try those two and see what happens.” I could breathe into a diffuser, which just puts it up. Its water and a couple drops of breathe oil, put into the diffuser. Prue would do this thing called strider. That's what she would get when she was having little episodes. They would come, I would say, sometimes we have only 10 times a day. Then sometimes, we’d have it twice.
We come on, sometimes eight to 10 times a day. Sometimes we have it twice a day, but it usually lasts for about 30 minutes. She would do this on inhalation, she would make the sound that would – sounds like a gasp. Strider sounds like — on breath, on inhalation. They can do it on exhale as well. Hers would be really bad on inhale. It's just the worst sound. If your child has ever had croup, that's what it – they’ll get strider sometimes when they're struggling to breathe. She would also retract. Around the collar bone, you would see this retraction and then her stomach, it would look like she was sucking to the floor. It would just cave in, because she was pulling so hard to get a breath.
She would also fixate. That's another thing to watch for, to fixate on the ceiling. They say a lot of babies do that, because they're focusing. They're just trying to take their next breath [inaudible 00:29:37]. When she starts to do that, I would put her close to her diffuser and I would just let her breathe out and inhale some of those vapors. The first time I did it, she had just started. Usually, that I said the episode would last 30 minutes. Within two minutes, she stopped and I was like, “Oh.” Then in my head, I'm like, “Well, that wasn't that. Couldn’t have been that.” She doesn’t have short episode. I didn't want to believe it was working.
Then the next time it started, I did it again. It happened again. I'm like, “Oh, my gosh. This is working.” Really, for the first few months, I just leaned heavily on Breathe and OnGuard. Those were two. I would run on guard during the day and whenever should start that on a top, breathe into a diffuser and get her close to it. Then I also put in by her at night when she was sleeping, to try to just support those airways and keep them open and hopefully, breathing clearly. That was my experience. I think you have to have one of those. Then you're like, “All right, there's something going on that's working.” That was my first moment, the experience. Then it just was a domino effect.
[00:30:52] RH: Okay. Well, you are very knowledgeable in essential oils now. I mean, it's been four years since you've been using them. Safety is a big thing about essential oils, using them the right way. Let's start by talking about essential oils for kids, diluting them, using them safely, how to use them. Let's just jump into that.
[00:31:16] EO: Okay, yeah. With kids. I did a lot of research before I just enrolled and started using doTERRA. There's a couple of big companies. I read about all of them. I kept coming back to doTERRA. It comes back to one thing, transparency. Right now, essential oils are not regulated, what is put into them. It can be really scary. If you Google and you read about them, and you see these horror stories, it's coming from companies that aren't transparent about what is in those bottles. That's the biggest thing.
I always say, I will only talk about and promote, or encourage you to use doTERRA oils shipped from doTERRA. Don't buy them on Amazon. Don't buy them on eBay. There's a huge market where people are recapping them and filling them with things that smell like lemon, or peppermint, or whatever. That's used in fragrances all the time.
[00:32:13] JH: That’s crazy.
[00:32:14] EO: You have no idea what's coming. doTERRA is completely transparent. They tell you exactly what's in every bottle. They actually have a site called sourcetoyou.com. You can go to that site and on every bottle that you get on the bottom of it is a batch number. You can type that batch number in and it shows you exactly what's in that bottle. The lab that tests them is not a doTERRA lab. It is a third-party lab, which is also key. If you're using an essential oil brand that you love, just make sure that you look and make sure that they have – that they're having it tested by a third-party and that they're showing you those results.
Because the other piece of that is you want to make sure that when you're getting these therapeutic benefits from oils, you want to make sure that whatever you're using right now is the exact same thing that you order next February. You want to make sure that if it's working and it's helping, you don't want it to change. It's really important that those bottles stay consistent in what’s in them.
When you're using them with kids, you always, always, always want to dilute. We use what we call a carrier oil. The carrier oil is something that works in a couple of ways. We like to use fractionated coconut oil, which is just coconut oil that stays liquid form, because the fatty chain has been removed. It won't ever go solid. It doesn't smell. That's the best part of it. It doesn't smell and it also doesn't hold as long, so it won't stain things, like say, olive oil, or something else like that.
You can use any oil that's edible. That's a good rule of thumb. If you just need to grab something, you can use something besides we call it FCL. I always say FCL fractionated coconut oil. You can grab anything else that's edible. A lot of times, if we're using something, like making a skincare blenders and like that, sometimes I'll grab argon oil, or holba, or anything like that. Rose oil is really great. FCL is very affordable. Again, it doesn't smell. That's a big thing.
What you want to do is you want to put a little bit of that in your hand before you put a drop of oil into the palm of your hand, if you're going to rub that on feet, or back, or somewhere like that. You want to do that too, because these are very volatile compounds. The second you take the lid off of your oil bottle, it starts to evaporate, it starts to change. As soon as you get it into that carrier oil, it helps to carry it, to get it deeper into your body, or wherever it's trying to go. It just helps keep the integrity of that oil.
That's another thing. You don't want to just take off lids of oils and leave them off while you're doing stuff. It is better to keep them capped as soon as you're done using it. There's different dilution charts that you can use. If you follow me on Instagram, you can use — I post them all the time, just so that way, people can reference it. I just always tell parents, especially when they're just starting, less is more with everybody, with everybody, oil. You don't want to waste them. They're very, very powerful. One drop of peppermint oil is equivalent to drinking 28 cups of peppermint tea.
[00:35:19] JH: Holy cow.
[00:35:22] EO: That is how strong they are. You don't need to waste them. I mean, it's not going to hurt you. You're not going to overdose if you use five drops of peppermint for something, but you don't really need it. Use one. If it's not giving you that response you want, then use another one. Just add to it. You can always add later, but you can't take away. With kids, start on the bottoms of feet. A lot of points on the feet to our reflexology points, which you guys know all about.
That is a great spot, because it's thicker skin and you also have such large pores there, that it helps to absorb really quickly and start to work. It also gives you a good spot to make sure that you're not going to have any reaction, or anything like that. I personally, we have a lot of people on our team. I've never had somebody, a parent use it on child and hasn’t been like, “Oh my gosh. We just did this and they're breaking out.” We've never ever had that. I see those articles and things, but I'm afraid those are more oils that are not pure. That's where the essential oil market gets scary. When I see them at Target and from Meijer when you're checking out, I’m like, “Oh.” The peppermint oil should not cost a $1.
That is not peppermint oil and peppermint fragrance. You just want to be careful, because they can be so effective, but they just need to be used really carefully. Especially with little ones, pets, anything like that. When you're using when you're home on bodies, you need to be so careful.
[MESSAGE]
[00:36:53] RH: We just want to take a minute and talk to you about our company, Harkla. Our mission at Harkla is to help those with special needs live happy, healthy lives. Not only do we accomplish this through the podcast, but we also have therapy products, easy to follow digital courses and the Harkla Sensory Club to try to bring holistic care to you and your family.
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[00:37:26] RH: Here's the best part, 1% of each sale gets donated to the University of Washington Autism Center to support autism research and fund scholarships to families in need to receive in-clinic therapy for their child.
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[00:37:59] RH: The best part is, all Harkla orders come with a lifetime guarantee and free shipping.
[00:38:05] JH: You really can't beat that.
[00:38:07] RH: No.
[00:38:08] JH: You can't. Okay, let's get back to the show.
[CONVERSATION CONTINUED]
[00:38:11] JH: Then I have a question. You mentioned that you can put it on your feet, rub it on your hands, but then you also talked about putting it in diffusers. How do you know how to use it and which way to go?
[00:38:25] EO: It's really up to you, like your preference. There's three ways you can use essential oils. You can defuse them. Most people, I've seen multiple start with that. That is how I started. Honestly, when I started, I thought I'm never going to use them any other way. I stick it in our diffuser. That can be so beneficial, because it's putting it up in the air. It can be really cleansing and purifying to the air. Then you also get that respiratory benefit of breathing that in. It's a great way to start. It’s a great way to use them with kids, especially if you're not comfortable using them any other way.
The second way you can use them as topically. We are talking, you can use a little bit of some [inaudible 00:39:01] on feet, down the spine is a great spot for kids, because –especially little ones that don't understand, because you don't want to touch them and then put them in their eyes, or their mouth. Spine is a great spot. Back of the neck. I’m trying to think. Sometimes, we use them our little ones to just when they’re having meltdowns, I’ll do – I love Prue. She loves to do this. We pick out rollers, or we go to our little drawer that we have all of our oils in. I just started taking those off and I’ll let her smell one.
It's so crazy, but she will go through and she'll shake her head, no. In the middle of like, because a lot of times, we get non-verbal and we're mad. She just goes quiet. She'll shake her head, no. Then when we get one that is speaking to her little body, she automatically gets a smile, shakes her head, yes. Then, I fill a little bit with coconut oil in my hands and I let her just top it over her nose and she’ll take a deep breath. Or she’ll grab a ruler. It just diffuses that meltdown. It just diffuses it in front of your eyes. It’s so cool. That's a great way.
She'll take those little rollers and she knows. She'll swipe it across her heart. She'll put on her feet. With our little guy, all of our stuff, we still use really carefully down the spine, or just somewhere he can't touch it. All the ones that beat socks on, or down the spine is the best.
Then the third way that you can use them is you can take, you can ingest them. You can put them into your water. It's really important that, I think Rachel is probably using this too. On every bottle, there's a little spot that's like it says, essential oil supplement, or it'll say, essential oil blend. The ones that say supplement on them, those are safe to ingest. I had a really good question from somebody the other day on our team. She said, “Why can't you ingest a blend?” It looks like everything should be fine, but there's a vanilla in it and the vanilla is not made by doTERRA. They just won't ever tell you to ingest anything. They don't know exactly what's going on behind. It goes back to that transparency piece, where they are so careful with everything they do to make sure that everything is safe.
In our house, if I start to feel rundown, or I feel I'm catching something, then I immediately will take veggie cap, which is just a capsule made out of vegetables that breaks down to take it. I'll put a couple drops of oregano and a little bit of coconut oil in that. Frankincense is a great one. There's a ton that you can take for different things. Some people use them for more emotional support.
Those are the three ways, but there's also a few that you have to be very careful with. We've talked about this a little bit, but there are hot oils. Things like oregano, thyme, kasha, cinnamon. Anything that sounds like it might be hot, you do not want to throw down your neck. If you have a sore throat. People will be like, “I put oregano straight down my throat.” I'm like, “No.” You have to be so careful. You always have to make sure you really dilute hot oils. If you're not sure, before you use it, just make sure you look those up, or ask. Check in with somebody to see, is this safe for me to take internally? Is the safe for me to put onto my skin? Then the other ones are photosensitive oils.
[00:42:16] JH: I know Rachel’s story about that.
[00:42:19] RH: I have a good example of what not to do.
[00:42:23] EO: I'm sorry. A lot of citrus oils, things like that are photosensitive, which just means they attract sun. If you apply those on your skin and then you go out into the sun, it can be a magnet. Sometimes people will have that reaction by all the – all of this depends on body chemistry. It really does. What happens to one person might not happen to the other, but you still want to be really careful. That was just long, like any of the blends that contain citrus oils, like breathe is one, Citrus Bliss.
[00:42:57] JH: Beautiful. That’s the one I use. It was the perfume, Beautiful.
[00:43:01] EO: Yes. The Beautiful blend, which is so good. It's my favorite scent.
[00:43:05] JH: It smells really good.
[00:43:06] EO: It has bergamot on it. That’s definitely, yeah.
[00:43:09] RH: Don't roll that over your neck and then go out in the sunshine. You will have hickeys on your neck.
[00:43:17] EO: Oh, It looks like you got that giant curling iron burn. Yeah. It's like, you have to really be careful. I feel so bad, because I should have told you that.
[00:43:31] JH: Well, now everyone knows.
[00:43:32] RH: I like having that experience now, so that way I can teach other people what not to do.
[00:43:37] JH: Yeah. There you go.
[00:43:40] EO: Oh, I know. It's so crazy. It can happen so fast. I do that too. There are little things that I do. I’m, “Oh, that was not smart.” I did it the other day. I was popping off a lid. I was almost out of on gardening. Popped it off. I should have got my little oil key thing to take it out, the little reducer. I popped it off and shot it in my eye. I’m like, “Ah! That did not feel good.” Those things happen and I've been using them forever. I know. It was a good reminder to me like, “Okay. Don't do this when the kids are right next to me.”
If you do have something that goes wrong like that, or you have a reaction to something, always, always, always apply a carrier oil. Dilute it down. Don't get water. Everyone's first thought is like, “I'm going to wash it off.” That goes back to the oil and water don't mix. Sometimes, it'll just irritate it more. You definitely want to grab just a carrier oil and layer that on until it subsides.
[00:44:38] JH: That’s a good tip.
[00:44:39] RH: I had the D on mine. I took Trips baby vitamin D and I put it on.
[00:44:45] EO: That works too.
[00:44:46] RH: It worked great. Yeah.
[00:44:48] EO: You got it, vitamin D, but then you used it. You turned it around.
[00:44:54] RH: Reverse psychology. All right. Well –
[00:44:59] EO: I’m trying to think. Is there something else that I had to touch on on the safety?
[00:45:02] RH: No. I think safety-wise, yeah, that's really helpful. Let's talk a little bit about some of your non-toxic hacks that you have swapped out in your house with using the essential oils.
[00:45:16] EO: Okay. This is something that took me a long time. This is not something I did in a week. It's interesting, too, because I go back and I'm like, “Oh, there's all these little stepping stones to how I got there.” The nurse that was helping me when Prue was born, I asked her a question when she was washing her hair. I was looking at the Johnson & Johnson shampoo that they use everywhere. I said to her something about like, “So how do we know it's safe to use for her? Are there other things that are safer when it comes to baby products?” She actually said to me, and I've never heard of a site. She said, “Oh, go to ewgskindeep.com.” That site is amazing.
It is my probably most used site. It can be a rabbit hole, so you have to keep it in check, because when I first started using it, I'm like, “Oh, my gosh.” I'm plugging in every single thing that I had in my bathroom. I was horrified, as all the reports are popping up. It's the best site. It took me a little bit of time. I used that to just slowly switch things out. The first thing that I switched that was super easy and cheap was our household cleaning products.
doTERRA makes something called OnGuard Cleaner Concentrate. It's a little bottle. It costs, I think, $14. You can use it to clean anything and everything and it is safe. It's natural. If your kids lick the floor after you've used it, it does not matter. It's so nice to know that that was the first thing that I thought of was when they're down and moving around, it's so important that it’s something that's safe. That little bottle, it's $14. You can make 12 giant spray bottles out of that small bottle.
[00:47:11] JH: That's great.
[00:47:13] EO: It's so reasonable. It was so easy. People are like, “It's so expensive to switch out your cleaning products.” That one for me was so simple. What I want to do with it is customize it to what I'm cleaning. I'll make a bottle. It smells really good. It's light. It’s fresh. Then I add this all-purpose, that I use to wipe dinner countertops and the kids’ toys, or anything like that. I add a little bit of peppermint to it, because I love how it smells together. It makes me happy when I'm cleaning, which is huge.
Then, if I'm doing something, like if I'm cleaning in our bathroom, I'll use something that's a really good anti – an even more antibacterial. I'll add a little bit of tea tree, which is also melaleuca, same thing. Or lemon and lime. Super great for things. I just add things to what we're doing, or what we're using it for. Literally, the day that came in the mail and I had a glass spray bottles ready to go, I took every cleaning product we had and my husband wasn’t home, because he would have died and I took them to our trash. I just loaded them all up and I took out the trash. We haven't looked back. They clean everything.
I also will do for glass cleaner, you can do distilled white vinegar. Half of that, half water, and then 20 drops of lemon. It isn’t streaky. It's just super easy, super cheap. That was the first thing that I did that felt so good. Then once I did that, it's just like, we were trying out before, it's a snowball effect, where you're like, “Oh for cleaning that out. Then maybe I should look at what we're using for detergent.” You start thinking about all the things that are on skin and touching your kids all day. I started looking at that.
The EWG site will really show you. It breaks it down into three categories. It will show you the risk of cancer. Then the other one is developmental, or reproductive development, toxicity. What's the last one? Allergy, things like that, that can just cause problems and throw your whole body off. It blows my mind, but I'll put in a kid's product and it will be in very high moderate cancer.
That's the stuff that is just mind-blowing. Sometimes I'll share those on Instagram and I'll have people, they're like, “Oh, my gosh. I shared a shaving cream.” Just your typical shaving cream –
[00:49:47] RH: All the time with our kids.
[00:49:49] EO: Nine. Yeah. It was a nine. I have been using it. I've been using it for years. Then I found another one that's a different brand. It was a one. There's no difference in price. That's the other piece of it. It's more just like, when you know better, you do better. You have to give yourself grace and you have to know, it's like, it's going to take time just make some of those changes. I still have things that I’m like, I really need to stop using that, whatever is in my makeup chore. That's the one drawer that I'm still like, “Ah, I got to work on that more.”
All of those things, I started to switch. I feel that really helped. Changing all these things and starting to use doTERRA, it's not even about doTERRA. It changed our lifestyle. It changed how we're doing everything. Another little – I don't know if it’s a hack, but I would say a really good account to follow on Instagram is Just.Ingredients. That's her handle.
[00:50:47] JH: Say it one more time.
[00:50:48] EO: Show those flaps for food. Sorry?
[00:50:50] JH: Oh, say it one more time.
[00:50:54] EO: It's Just.Ingredients. That's her handle on Instagram. Her name is Carolyn, and she's so great. She's so helpful. I've messaged her quite a few times. Our little guy decided he did not want to breastfeed, because he wanted to walk at seven months. It was crazy. He was too busy. He was like, “I can take a bottle and I can do it faster.” I was stressed, because I'm like, “I'm not producing enough.” I messaged her and she messaged me back and said like, “These are great options for formula. If you need formula, these are good ingredients.” I love her. I love her site.
Then, the other thing I would say is just like, I was never a DIY person, but some of these things are so easy. I make our dishwasher soap. It's so cheap. It smells so good. I know what it is. I know what's in it.
[00:51:43] RH: Because you’re eating off those plates and those silverware.
[00:51:47] EO: Exactly. Exactly. That's exactly right. You start looking at those things and you're like, “Yeah. Now my kid is going to eat off that spoon.” I ran the Cascade, the Cascade on knowing like this post on Instagram.
[00:51:59] RH: I use Cascade.
[00:52:02] EO: Yes.
[00:52:02] RH: I forgot who told me.
[00:52:03] EO: I can’t remember now. I think it rated like a seven. It wasn't high.
[00:52:06] RH: Oh, no.
[00:52:08] EO: I posted that and people are like – I got all these messages. They're like, “Oh, my God.”
[00:52:13] JH: Oh, no.
[00:52:15] EO: The simple stuff. It's like, when you walk into the grocery store, nobody's protecting you in there. Nobody is thinking about, they are selling, so you just have to be conscious. Everyone's doing their best. Everybody's doing the best they can. It's not to shame anybody, or say like, “Oh my.” I mean, I've been using all of it. I just started learning. Sometimes the option on the grocery store shelf is the one next to it is so much better and it'll be three cents more expensive. It's more about just paying attention to that and really thinking about those things.
One thing that I thought and my husband was blown away when we went into lockdown last year. Everyone's freaking out and everyone is buying everything. I started looking through all of our stuff in our cupboards and I told him like, “I can make baby wipes. I could make those. I can make a million. We have everything for it. It's the easiest thing in the world.” If Amazon's not delivering them and Fred Meyer doesn't have any, I can make them.
[00:53:23] RH: Tell me how to make baby wipes. Oh, my gosh.
[00:53:25] JH: Well, and have you heard of baby wipes being recalled? Because there's like, oh, my gosh. So many terrible in them?
[00:53:31] EO: I heard a bad thing about water wipes. I was like, “Those can’t be bad all, because.” But they're so bad.
[00:53:39] JH: Yeah. How did you make your baby wipes?
[00:53:41] EO: Okay. All you have to do is you need a roll of paper towels. You find a container and just make sure it fits snugly into that and that you can put a lid on, so that's airtight. Then you cut it in half and you add, I think it's two cups of purified water. Then you need to add – okay, what do I use? Castile soap. You can do a tablespoon of Castile soap. There actually is a baby version of Castile soap. You can even get that technical, if you want. Anything, I would say, you can use whatever Castile soap you want that you feel is safe.
Then you add five drops of lavender, five drops tea tree and push that paper towel roll down into all that. Then put the lid on and you can watch it, it'll absorb. It'll just absorb all of that. Oh, wait. Before you put the lid on, pull the little cardboard insert out, so that doesn't get all nasty. You just want to pull that out and then airtight and you'll have baby wipes.
[00:54:45] JH: Oh, my gosh.
[00:54:45] EO: It's so crazy, but I felt so liberated. People are freaking out. I'm like, “I could make that.” I could make hand sanitizer. I could make these things that we took for granted that we're selling out everywhere. My husband does food brokerage. That's his job. I'm listening to all those conversations all day while he's working from home. He's begging people to send different things to different stores during this crazy time really. I'm like, “I can make a lot of those stuff.” I’m fine.
You can make laundry soap. You can make any of it. It's so inexpensive, but it's also safe and you know what's in it. My favorite part is that you know for sure what's in it. I think back to the, was it two years ago, when Johnson & Johnson baby powder blew up and everything came out and they covered all this stuff for years. It contained arsenic. Why is that being put on babies and their little skin? I remember calling my mom panicked. I said, “Did you use baby powder in the '80s?”
[00:55:50] JH: Oh, no.
[00:55:52] EO: She's like, “Oh, no, no. We couldn't afford that.” I'm like, “Ah, God bless me.” I’m like, “Thank you. I’m so grateful for that.” You think about it. You think, because I wish that it was like that. I wish that, because people are in that business and it's baby products that they cared enough to make sure. That's another reason why I'm just so in love with a company that doTERRA is, because they are that company. They really are. They truly care that what people are using are safe and that they're actually making things better for you.
It's drawn me in so much. In our intro to oils class, if anybody is curious to take that, I teach it with one of my friends, Lindsey. She's a nurse. She's great. She also had a really hard start with her little girl. She was born at 26 weeks and in the NICU, spent all his time in nursery. Lindsey is a nurse and she's like, “I'm learning all this stuff about babies, about how dangerous fragrance is,” because they teach them that in the NICU.
She's like, “We don't learn that on the regular mother-baby floor.” In that class that we teach together, we talk a lot about how doTERRA sources their oils. I think that's a really important thing too, because it's really cool what they do for the families and farmers and countries that we work with. That's another thing for another day.
[00:57:20] JH: Well, how can our listeners find that class?
[00:57:24] EO: We run it in a private Facebook group. They can get a hold of me on Instagram. My handle is – nice. I'm just like Rachel. I’m @thesupernaturalproject. I know I told you, I'm must have been thinking about it lately. It’s great. [inaudible 00:57:43]. They can go on my Facebook page, or Instagram. I spend more time on Instagram. If they just shoot me a DM on there, or I post a lot of different classes on there. If they just want to just say like, “Hey, I'd like to intro about oils,” I'll add them in and they can just check it out.
[00:58:01] RH: Perfect.
[00:58:02] JH: Your Instagram is just the bible of essential oils, honestly. I can't tell you how many people I will send your posts to, because they're like, “What can I do for teething?” I'm like, “Oh, Erin knows.” I’ll just send them a post. Honestly, you guys listening, go to her Instagram. Check it out and just soak up all the information.
[00:58:25] EO: You're so nice. Thank you. I try to try to keep it organic to what we're doing in our house. I don't plan posts I just try to do it as we're using them. If there's anything anybody wants to see or anything like that, I’d love suggestions too, if there's something that's helpful.
[00:58:42] JH: That's great. That’s the way to do it. You're relatable. Yeah, you just do it.
[00:58:46] EO: You guys are so great. You're so nice.
[00:58:49] JH: I'm really not nice. So this is genuine.
[00:58:54] EO: You know on Instagram, sometimes you're like, I don't know. You just want to make sure you're adding value. I think that's the biggest thing. I even hate jumping on. I hate putting my face on them, because I always feel like, “Oh, it's just not about me.” I know, I feel connecting with people too. Yeah. I just always want to make sure that it's adding value and that they feel like it's helpful for day-to-day.
Especially when you're getting started, because I feel that part can be so overwhelming and intimidating. There's so much information coming out with moms. They feel all this pressure. They’re like, “I can't do all those things.” The smallest change can be the biggest thing for your little ones and for you. It can serve you in such big ways, I think.
[00:59:40] RH: Oh, yeah. You may miss those baby rollers. We use them every day. I mean, he had a fever the other day, and we were just rolling it on his spine every 30 minutes and we didn't have to do any Tylenol, Motrim. We didn't have to do any of that. I'm just beyond grateful.
[00:59:54] EO: Thanks. I love when I hear that and people's stories, because it just – you get to see how it's supporting people outside of my home. That's what lights me up. I love that. I'm so glad that you're using them, that you like them.
[01:00:10] RH: Yes. Well, before we wrap everything up. Will you tell us your one piece of advice that you would give, just someone who comes to you today? What's your one takeaway?
[01:00:24] EO: Oh, my gosh. Just in life?
[01:00:26] RH: Yes. Mix in life, essential oils, LM, parenting.
[01:00:34] EO: Oh, my gosh. All the things. I'm a dental hygienist, so I talk a lot. Okay. Okay, this will go back to Andrew bingingYellowstone. This might be cheesy. I had this moment the other night. It actually made me cry, which he also was like, “Oh, I'm trying to watchYellowstone.” I was working and I wasn't even watching. I had my back to it. I was working on something on my computer. All of a sudden, I heard there's this – have you guys watched it?Yellowstone?
[01:01:04] JH: No. I haven’t.
[01:01:05] EO: You’re going to know the part, but I have no idea what episode, or season, because I'm not – I don't know. There's this old cowboy. He's sitting with Kevin Costner, was the main cute star of the show. This old cowboy says to him something along the lines like, “You know, you get to my age, all you wish for is more time. You just wish for more time and that you could go back and do it over, or do it –” Or he says like, do it again. Maybe do it different.
I heard it and I stopped. Andrew paused it. I said to him, “Oh, my gosh. I hope the opposite. I don't want to be saying that at the end.” I want to be like, “We did it. We did all the things that were important to us.” We did the important things. We kept our priorities straight and where they should be. That has been something playing in my mind, that you get one shot at this. It's one shot. How do you want to do it? What are you putting your time and energy and focus into? Because does it make it better? I thinkThe Real Housewives of Salt Lake still make it better.
[01:02:19] JH: Still worth it.
[01:02:21] EO: Yeah. That has been something that's really been on my mind since I heard that. It literally made me all teary. He's like, “Are you okay?” The thing I would say as a mom is advocate, advocate, advocate. Always speak up for you and for your kids, because nobody else is going to. Who cares what they say about you? I had to get over that. I'm a people pleaser. I was a people pleaser. That experience changed me, because it was like, “Whoa, you got to do it. You got to do it for yourself and you've got to do it for your family.” I think that's probably my biggest –
[01:03:04] RH: Mic drop.
[01:03:05] JH: I love both of those. That's so good. Perfect. It’s what we needed.
[01:03:12] RH: Erin, thank you so much.
[01:03:15] EO: I love you guys. You're the best.
[01:03:17] JH: Thank you.
[01:03:18] RH: Thank you for just sharing all of your knowledge. You don't even share all of it. I swear, if people, you just go and chat with Erin on Instagram, or Facebook, wherever you hang out, she will just –
[01:03:32] EO: I'm doing a mama class. We're calling it Mama School. We’re going to do that. Anybody who really wants to learn more about blends, what do you use for teething? What do you use for inner support, if they have pain or something like that? We're going to do a class on January 20th. I will run it again if people want to do it later.
[01:03:50] JH: All right, Erin. Thank you.
[01:03:51] RH: Thank you. We will chat with you later, okay?
[01:03:54] EO: Okay. Thanks for what you guys do.
[01:03:56] RH: You’re so welcome. Bye.
[01:03:59] JH: Bye.
[01:03:59] EO: Bye.
[END OF CONVERSATION]
[01:04:01] RH: We have been trying to get Erin on the podcast for probably a year and a half.
[01:04:04] JH: For a while. You’ve talked about it multiple times. It just never worked out.
[01:04:09] RH: So happy that she took the time to share her story, to fill everyone in on essential oils and all they have to offer.
[01:04:16] JH: Yup. If you need more info, if you want to reach out to her personally, we will link her Instagram in the show notes, so that you can go follow her and talk to her. She's very, very knowledgeable, and she's very friendly.
[01:04:29] RH: Yes. We also have a Sensory Plus Essential Oil Class that we offer. We will make sure to link that information in the show notes as well. If you want to learn more about how to support your sensory kiddo with essential oils, we can teach you that too.
[01:04:44] JH: All right. If you have questions, feel free to reach out to us on Instagram as well. Leave us a review on iTunes, if you have a moment. That's it.
[01:04:54] RH: We will chat with you all next week.
[01:04:57] RH: Thank you so much for listening to All Things Sensory by Harkla. If you want more information on anything we mentioned in the show, head over to harkla.co/podcast to get all of the show notes.
[01:05:08] JH: We always have the show notes and links, plus full transcripts to make following along as easy as possible for everyone. If you have follow-up questions, the best place to ask those is in the comments on the show notes, or message us on our Instagram account, which is @Harkla_Family. If you just search Harkla, you'll find us.
[01:05:28] RH: Like we mentioned before, our podcast listeners get 10% off their first order at Harkla. Whether it's for one of our digital courses, one of our sensory swings, the discount code Sensory will save you 10%. That code is S-E-N-S-O-R-Y. Head over to harkla.co/sensory to use that code right now, so you don't forget.
[01:05:51] JH: We're so excited to work together to help create confident kids all over the world and work towards a happier, healthier life.
[01:05:57] RH: All right. We'll talk to you guys next week.
[01:06:00] JH: Just a friendly reminder, this is general information related to occupational therapy, pediatrics and sensory integration. We do not know you, or your child. Therefore, we do not know any specific needs. Therefore, you should always refer back to your pediatrician and occupational therapist for more information.
BORING, BUT NECESSARY LEGAL DISCLAIMERS
While we make every effort to share correct information, we are still learning. We will double check all of our facts but realize that medicine is a constantly changing science and art. One doctor / therapist may have a different way of doing things from another. We are simply presenting our views and opinions on how to address common sensory challenges, health related difficulties and what we have found to be beneficial that will be as evidenced based as possible. By listening to this podcast, you agree not to use this podcast as medical advice to treat any medical condition in either yourself or your children. Consult your child’s pediatrician/ therapist for any medical issues that he or she may be having. This entire disclaimer also applies to any guests or contributors to the podcast. Under no circumstances shall Rachel Harrington, Harkla, Jessica Hill, or any guests or contributors to the podcast, as well as any employees, associates, or affiliates of Harkla, be responsible for damages arising from use of the podcast.
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