So y'all know my kids struggle with eczema. It has taken over my life recently. I am fully converted to WAPF dietary principles. I am experimenting with food and ointments. I have been researching, researching, researching. I have been spending money that I do not have. Money on books not available at the library and that I wish to write in, money on cod liver oil, probiotic supplements, and natural oils. I am tired.
I have had this book, A Compromised Generation, on my shelf for a while. I have not wanted to read it. I started. So sad.
Although I am a health conscious person, I am guilty. Guilty of feeding my kids horrible crap. Maybe I am responsible for their skin making them so uncomfortable.
I know we just started cutting out sugar and processed foods (we have not completely cut out grain yet), but my son's skin is not healing. I am well aware I need to give it time. It's just that he is super itchy today, my house is a mess, and I'm behind on Eaden's homeschool. I'm impatient and frustrated.
Parenting in a confusing world can be so hard! I wish we lived in a simpler time....We don't.
Here is a small sample of what we have been eating. My kids will eat a lot of different foods if I just give them melted butter with lemon to dip it in.
We started cod liver oil. The baby will take it by mouth but I am rubbing it on the skin of the rest of the kids. The probiotic supplement is a tasteless powder so it is easy to put in any drink. And my monster kefir grains.
The kids are having a little bit of a hard time with the grain free thing so I made them some spelt muffins. Don't they look excited? Actually, they enjoyed them. However, Naia's eczema flared up a bit the next day....
She is much improved though.
My son, notice his elbows, is not. And he is dairy free. He is holding our first mulberry harvest.
The kids like to dance for me as I wash dishes.
Despite the outdoors irritating the eczema, we get out.
I am just going to take this whole healing process one day at a time. I feel I need to take a break from the researching and just feed my kids nutritious whole foods. I can't spend anymore money.
There is so much info out there, but it's pretty overwhelming. I have a similar thing with one of my daughters having pretty bad cavities and feeling as though I should have done a better job up 'til now with her diet. She is good at brushing and flossing, but so much more goes into it than that, I guess.
ReplyDeleteNo answers here, just sympathizing :) Your kiddos really do look happy and thriving. Also, I left you a reply to your comments over on my blog. I'm (selfishly) really glad you're still blogging. I love visiting here.
Oh hon, I'm sorry you are feeling overwhelmed. You are doing the best you can for your sweet children. It's hard to process all the info that is out there,and you don't know if it will work or not. I wish I could be there and give you a big hug! Maybe we can meet up on our way to Colorado :) (By the way, my friend Rachel has a series of posts on her blog -www.lusaorganics.typepad.com- on healing eczema. When you are not feeling so overwhelmed, maybe it could be of help) I am also glad you're still blogging, dear.
ReplyDeleteIsn't it all just so confusing and frustrating? In the past I have found great gluten-free flour substitutes, but they are so expensive when compared with regular flour.. to be used sparingly i guess. You have motivated me to get my kids to eat healthier too. I am going to cut way back on anything processed and hope that we can slowly make a shift to a much healthier way of eating. It is all so tiring to think about, plan, etc. I feel ya. YOu are doing great though, and, eventually, I bet you will have it all figured out.
ReplyDeleteHey, I found your blog because you visited mine!! It sounds like you are so frustrated. I am sorry. I know you said you were so tired, and needed a break from researching, but I just read a bit about healing eczema naturally on another blog. It's a two parter, today actually was part two. MAybe you already check this blog out, but if not I brought the link for you!
ReplyDeletehttp://www.lusaorganics.typepad.com/
The girl has her own natural soap business and homeschools her kids, but she's not trying to sell her soap in the eczema posts...I just think it's something she had to deal with too. Anyway, just thought I'd share. Hope you're having a less frustrated day today!
erin
ha ha...just noticed someone else already passed it along...
DeleteHaving so many choices, which is supposed to make things so great, just seems to make everything harder. I am happy to see that you are back again--I enjoy your blog--you always have interesting things to say.
ReplyDeleteHey Megan. I'm so sorry about your kids. It can be so frustrating with all the information and advice and no one seeming to improve. We had the same thing for Naiya when she was about 3. Terrible eczema that lasted for months and looked so awful we thought it was ringworm at one point. Like you we asked lots of advice, had a naturopath test for food allergies and followed all his prescriptions (and did all his incredibly expensive treatments too). Nothing seemed to help. Then my mom found this weird piece of info on a website...did you know that Noxzema (that old face cream) was originally an eczema treatment? Nox eczema - no eczema. Hmm. A giant jar of that stuff is about $4. What the heck, we thought. Nothing else was working (and we were dairy and sugar free with limits on potatoes and grains as well).
ReplyDeleteI kid you not - after months with no sign of improvement the noxzema cleared our daughter's skin in like 5 days. Maybe it was just time? Maybe all the diet changes, herbs and hydrotherapy just took that long to flush out and the Noxzema had nothing to do with it? I don't know. I figure it's worth a $4 try though. You might want to check it out.
-dionne
Oh, I would also add that I realize there's nothing "natural" about Noxzema. Maybe it will mess with what you're already doing? You'd have to judge that for yourself. As a sufferer of a number of mysterious skin ailments over the years myself though I would share that "natural" creams, salves, ointments and whatnots (with lots of combined botanicals) have always irritated more than helped me. Botanicals can get tricky and those without sensitivities don't always realize that the good, organic, natural stuff (which I would love to always use) can often harm more than help. Something you may want to keep an eye on. Hope this (or something else) helps and everyone feels better soon!
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