Two weeks ago, I shared part one of my son's journey to better (not perfect) skin. In this post, I'm sharing part two of our story that led to the launch of Rachel's Plan Bee. It is my hope that by sharing an overview of our steps, that you will find the information helpful as you follow your own path to better skin.

First things first. Our family is not perfect. We are still learning and constantly adjusting our sails as more information becomes available because sometimes things don't go as planned. 

• When he was only 6 weeks old, Little Ric developed severe colitis that would last until he was almost 18 months old. I remember those days like they were yesterday.
• In those early months, I stumbled on a mom's breastfeeding blog post regarding her son's gut issues and food allergies/intolerances. This was a game changer.
• I kept a food diary and noticed through a process of elimination was seemed to aggravate my son's colitis. 
• Months passed and he was slowly growing on breast milk despite the colitis. My diet was very restricted. I prepared all my food from scratch avoiding all dairy, soy, corn and artificial ingredients, but I was still eating gluten.
• It was soon after he turned 6 months old that I noticed his skin was showing the effects of eczema (more on this in a future newsletter).
• When I applied the regular over-the-counter baby creams, one of which stated "keep out of reach of children", his skin became more irritated.
• While reading several breastfeeding blogs of moms with children who had skin/gut issues, I came across many that were making their own soap and creams for their children's skin.
• That early exposure to all those moms (trailblazers in the current natural skin care explosion) who were questioning everything in the traditional medical community in regards to helping improve their children's gut/skin changed my life. 
• After years of making simple recipes that helped moisturize and nourish my son's skin, I launched Rachel's Plan Bee.

Despite what I learned in school and in my experience as a health care professional, the following information is what helped my son go from a very sick baby to the thriving young teenager that he is today:

• Question everything.
• Our gut houses more immune system cells than anywhere else in our body.
• A traditional diet/lifestyle along with overuse of antibiotics, etc. in a compromised host can disrupt the gut's natural microbiome causing chronic inflammation that may lead to certain illness and disease. (There continues to be emerging research in this area.) 
• For some people, the skin is often a reflection of gut health.
• Probiotics and a diet focused on supporting my son's good gut bacteria helped him thrive.
• Simple skin care recipes were able to soothe and nourish my son's skin (less is more).
• What works for one person may not work for another person. There are no absolutes in skin care as it's more about finding balance in our own bodies.
• Never stop learning.

I encourage you to never stop learning because it's through that learning process that we become stronger advocates for ourselves and our families. 

In a future post, I will be focusing on the delicate topic of product claims and why you will never see Rachel's Plan Bee make any claims regarding the "treatment" of any skin condition. We focus on creating skin care that will moisturize and nourish your skin. 


Thanks for being here and following our journey. I appreciate you. 

Wishing you a safe and relaxing weekend. 

XO,

serendipity (n): finding something good without looking for it.

Wishing you endless moments of serendipity.