Eczema

Ryan has always had eczema, since he was a baby. Sometimes worse than others, but never a real bother to him. It didn't really itch or anything. I found that if I made hard lotion and used that on him, it helped keep it at bay most of the time.

Several years ago I researched possible causes of eczema, and dairy was the number one cause of eczema in children. I read that over and over from different sources (which I would site if I could remember them, but I can't)  

Now I hadn't seen Ryan's skin in awhile, it is winter, he wears pants, showers himself, etc. But a few weeks ago I caught sight of him as he ran from the bathroom to the bedroom in the buff.  The glaring red patches on his legs made me sad. So we cut dairy out for about a week to see what happened. His legs completely cleared up.  Then I was a bad mama and forgot all about it. He has been eating whatever he wants.  

Last night he put on pj shorts. I have declared he must go dairy free. He isn't super excited about this, but his legs have been itching him, and they are covered in eczema. I took some pictures, but the redness doesn't show up as much on here as it is in real life.

it is worse on the back of his legs, the discoloration is  on the back of his thighs and behind his knees, with small patches on his calves

it is also all up and down in smaller patches on the front of his legs

a particularly itchy spot that he had scratched open. on the inside of his thigh. .

We covered his legs in coconut oil, which is really amazing stuff, you can use it for everything. This morning the redness was much better, and now we will see how cutting out dairy does this time. If it completely clears up again, he will have to be dairy free. That makes 3 of the 4 of us dairy free, I think number 4 would feel better if he gave up dairy too, but that is another story!

Have a blessed day!