Health, Home, and Happiness: Homemade Vaposteam Humidifier additive

Homemade Vaposteam Humidifier additive

Monday, November 09, 2009 |

Posted by Cara |

I posted this on my other blog last year, but wanted to move it over here because it's more health related. I just remembered to refill the humidifier that I keep in my little one's bedroom last week when she had a stuffy nose.

We all had stuffy noses, including my little baby, this past winter. After spending something like $7 on a bottle of Vicks Vaposteam to add to the humidifier, I was getting ready to order prenatals online anyway, so I thought I'd look at what the active ingredients were in the Vicks stuff and then try to make my own.

I ordered Camphor and Eucalyptus essential oil (keep out of reach of children! I'm pretty sure the camphor is pretty toxic when ingested in large enough quantities) and add quite a bit, about 40 drops of each, to the water in our warm mist humidifier. The Vicks also has cedar leaf oil, and nutmeg oil, but I didn't want to buy all of those in case my trial was a dud. But it worked, and I'll stick with just the camphor and eucalyptus.

Each bottle of essential oil was about $4 and after being used at least a dozen times I still have 3/4 of each bottle left, making it a worthwhile purchase.

I'm big on prevention, and when stuffy noses are going around I try to remember to use the humidifier at nap time to keep those mucous membranes moist so everyone's less likely to catch the sickies.

More help for winter sickies:
Ginger Tea with Honey for Sore Throats
Eat to Stay Healthy This Winter

Labels: herbs, natural health

5 comments:

Rachel said...: Thanks! I just bought some vicks stuff, but hadn't thought of doing it myself. Duh- so simple!; November 9, 2009 1:04 PM
Cara said...: I know what you mean! I didn't think of it until after I realized how fast we went through the store bought stuff.; November 9, 2009 1:07 PM
Meg said...: I was considering making my own as well for similar reasons. I just want to share some info about the toxicity of camphor. http://www.aapcc.org/FinalizedPMGdlns/Camphor%20guideline%20for%20AAPCC%202006-2-16.pdf And as for ingestion, it is EXTREMELY toxic, deadly even, in very tiny quantities, if ingested, so keep it where kids cannot possibly get at it.
Also don't use the vaposteam additive chronically, as toxicity from camphor can occur through chronic inhalation or dermal contact.; November 27, 2009 3:20 PM
Janice said...: Thanks for this Cara! Question for you though, would this be safe for my 15 month old? Vicks Vaposteam says not to use for children under 2 years old.; January 24, 2010 12:19 AM
Cara said...: Hmm, the steam says that? Or the rub? I just looked it up and it does say not to use under the age of two for the steam. I'm guessing it's because of the camphor, which we already talked about.

You could just play it safe and just use plain water/steam. The plain steam works well also!; January 24, 2010 8:15 AM