If you’ve been paying attention to the struggles of the CBD-using community, you’ve probably heard of reports to Child Protective Services (CPS) on parents who give their children CBD. The parents claimed that the CBD was essential to help their child overcome a severe ailment while healthcare providers or neighbors biased against CBD told CPS that they were neglecting to properly treat their child or put their child in danger by giving them CBD.
Were those calls justified? Is CBD oil (also referred to by the scientific name cannabidiol oil) actually bad for your kids, or is that just a common misconception?
What CBD Is and What It Isn’t
Before we discuss the potential safety of CBD oil for kids, it’s important that you understand the truth about CBD and dispel common misconceptions that surround it. This will help you make your own informed decision about whether or not CBD should be used for children.
CBD is a derivative of the hemp plant. It’s loaded with cannabinoids that, when entering your blood stream, are believed to combine with your body’s naturally occurring cannabinoids to balance out your endocannabinoid system. This system is responsible for regulating hormones and your immune system and adding supplemental cannabinoids to the mix is believed to help the system reach homeostasis and deliver relief for many ailments.
CBD is not a drug. The U.S. government falsely labeled it as a Schedule 1 narcotic for many years, but given new research, they found that it does not classify in the same category and removed that label.
Unlike other cannabis products taken from the hemp plant, it does not contain THC, the psychoactive compound that’s found in marijuana and could be harmful to children. Through CO2 extraction, the THC is extracted completely from the CBD, so you get the benefits of the hemp plant without the high.
CBD is also not an addictive substance, so you don’t have to worry about your child becoming dependent on it. It seems to have a similar effect as certain over-the-counter medications on ailments like pain, anxiety, sleep problems, and more without forcing the brain to become dependent on it.
CBD can be purchased online throughout the U.S. or in a dispensary where legal in several different forms. You can get CBD oils, creams, bath bombs, gummies, capsules, and more. There are also things like vape juices and caffeinated beverages that are highly discouraged for kids because of the other ingredients or delivery methods that go with them.
The Tale of CBD and Epilepsy Treatments for Children
In most cases that you hear about where, the CBD was being used to treat a particularly intense form of epilepsy that affects children such as Gastaut syndrome and Dravet syndrome.
These conditions cause hundreds of seizures weekly for small children who are unable to live a normal life because of it. Many epilepsy treatments are not recommended for children, and many parents found themselves desperately looking for homeopathic-type remedies that might give their children relief.
As such, many parents turned to CBD and found incredible success in calming seizures. They found that the severity and frequency of seizures improved significantly. Many cases, such as the famous case of Charlotte, the girl who led the creators of Charlotte’s Web to create their famous CBD oils, the child’s seizures reduced from hundreds per week to just one or two when she was given CBD.
This led to the first-ever FDA-approved, CBD-based treatment for epilepsy, Epidiolex. It can be given to both adults and children, but it’s one of the most widely used epilepsy treatments for children. Not only is it effective, but it also has fewer side effects, is non-addictive, and interacts with very few medications.
In this case, CBD oil treatments are the best-case scenario for children with epilepsy, and most healthcare providers will vouch for its effectiveness. If CBD was not considered safe for children, it would not be a widely accepted treatment in the medical community.
Does Your Child Need CBD?
You should never give your child something if they don’t need it, no matter how popular it is. CBD should be considered a type of medicine, even if it falls into the alternative medicine category. If you do give your child CBD when they don’t need it, they will likely feel no effects, but there is no proven data to show that.
Many parents find that CBD is a useful medicinal tool for their children suffering from certain ailments including:
- Anxiety
- Depression
- PTSD
- Sleep problems
- Pain
- Inflammation
- Epilepsy
- Eczema
- Side effects of a more serious illness like heart disease, diabetes, or cancer
- Arthritis
- Inflammatory bowel diseases
- Fibromyalgia
It’s always a good idea to talk to a doctor about giving your child CBD. Choose a doctor that understands the potential effects of CBD so that they can give you a full rundown of the possible effects, side effects, and warnings that come with CBD for children.
Side Effects
As far as research has shown, the side effects of CBD are mild when given in the right dose. They’re no different than what your child might experience when taking an antibiotic, NSAID, or another medication that’s FDA-approved. The most common side effects of CBD include:
- Gastrointestinal discomfort (nausea and rarely diarrhea or vomiting)
- Appetite changes
- Fatigue
- Light headedness or dizziness
- Dry mouth
- Drowsiness
It’s also important to note that CBD may interact with some medications. Talk to your doctor about potential interactions if your child is taking medication.
Additionally, make sure you’re giving the proper dosage to your child. Too much CBD increases the likelihood of side effects, and the effects of a too-large dose of CBD in a child is unknown.
CBD Use Is Largely Untested: Proceed with Caution
This is the most important thing parents considering giving their children CBD should know: There’s little research to back up both the benefits and ill effects of CBD. We just don’t know for sure how it works and if it could be harmful to your child.
There are also bad strains of CBD floating around for sale. Because the industry is largely unregulated, it’s difficult to know if you’re getting a quality, pure strain of CBD or one that contains very little CBD and plenty of junk. If you purchase CBD online, research suppliers carefully, always read third-party lab reports, and if something feels off, look elsewhere for the product.
The good news is, regulation amongst CBD suppliers is improving, and more shady suppliers are being forced there. There have not been reports of CBD harming a child as of yet. There are also many studies in progress to determine the safety of CBD on humans, and we will one day have a better understand of what CBD could do for a child.
Until then, it’s best to stick with your parental intuition and the advice of a medical professional.
I’m a 20-something stay-at-home mother and wife. I have an amazing husband, a beautiful daughter, two loving dogs, and a lazy cat. I wouldn’t change my life for anything! I love to read, listen to music, cook and blog!
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