I’ve had a follower message me to ask what I would use if I had a 7 year old boy who’s brain won’t turn off at night despite being really tired.
And while there are essential oil supports we can use I fully believe the efforts would be far more successful if we looked at the sensory environment as well.
I don’t want to come across like I know everything and we have this issue nailed now.
Because it’s not the truth!
We still have some sleep issues in our household, especially when there’s a full or new moon because quite frankly we don’t do enough sensory support to contend with the change in energies that surround the moon cycles, but we have so much more success than we used to both with falling asleep and staying asleep in our girls.
My aim with this post and on this page for now is just to share what’s worked for me, what I learnt along the way when we had similar issues.
And what we need to look at was the whole day and even the whole week because sometimes the previous nights sleep isn’t enough to fully calm the nervous system to start a new day.
The racing thoughts are usually a by product of the brain having to figure a lot of stuff out- worrying about things and remembering things.
It’s an amazing thing to do for ourselves, but also to teach the kids to do, and that is have a brain dump before bed.
Take a notepad and write down
– what needs to be remembered for tomorrow?
– What’s still on your mind circling around in there from the day?
Can you write it down to figure out tomorrow? Maybe they just needed someone to listen.
The racing thoughts can also be a by product of sensory information the brain just couldn’t make sense of so it got overloaded.
This is where the essential oils can support this too muchness – they can also be used throughout the day to continually ‘empty the sensory cup’
Oils like Peace, Vetiver, Cedarwood, Sandalwood, In Tune, Frankincense and Copaiba are my choices here.
Or the kids Steady and Thinker Blends.
We make up a massage blend and find it works best if they have some eyes closed lie down time for the oils to be rubbed in. A nice hug for the sensory system as the deep pressure of a massage and the sense of touch can be soothing to the nervous system. How hard or soft you massage needs to be how the child likes it- different people tolerate different things.
I light massage actually triggers me whereas a firm massage is super calming. Elia on the other hand just likes it really gentle, almost a tickle.
We can also empty the sensory cup throughout the day by allowing the brain to take breaks from having too much sensory information to process.
My girls love alone time building LEGO, drawing pictures, climbing trees or playing the harp and Himalayan Singing Bowl for this.
Outdoors is an amazing tool.
Especially with shoes off and in nature. The dirt has a tremendous ability to ground us and reset the nervous system.
Your children will have their own ‘things’ that you notice seems to just calm them (not technology or screen time though- its a quick fix that just feeds their sensory system even more)
Other things we do that help our home are I will read a guided meditation I have created that’s very ‘my girls’ appropriate for them to visualise when they close their eyes so their mind just goes on peaceful things and because we do the same one every night there’s very minimal brain power needed for it. For us it’s castles and unicorns and princesses and mermaids and clouds and flowers and crystals. Make yours engaging for your child.
Our bedtime diffuser blend of choice is also Vetiver, Juniper Berry, Roman Chamomile, Cedarwood and Patchouli but if you’re starting out just try Lavender Peace. It’s successful for most people.
Be prepared for trial and error but know that there is a light. We just need to really get to know what helps fill the sensory cup and what helps empty it.
The emptier the cup the calmer and more focused the person.
And calm doesn’t necessarily mean not screaming or not hyper- people show they aren’t calm in many, many different ways- shutting down, rigidity, defiance, inability to sleep, extreme sadness, anxiety ……. it pays to learn yours and their signature dance moves when triggered or over stimulated.
Leave a Reply