We began this month with a dreadful scare while walking, a Rottweiler attacked one of my dogs near a busy road. He wasn’t badly bitten and has recovered fine since, but it was very scary for me. John was in the pram facing away from what happened so I didn’t expect his reaction at 3am the next morning: screaming “Dog crash!” and crying inconsolably.
A review with the dietician pointed to further problems, including lactose and fructose intolerance, so off the raw milk and fruit. Additional supplements (including colostrum, vitamin D, glutamine and others) improved things a little. I had to make the difficult decision to give John the recommended supplements that were high in salicylates but it paid off, we only had a couple of days of hyperactivity until everything kicked in and we saw major improvement. Back on the raw milk and the very occasional bite of fruit. But the incessant scratching continued despite the general improvement in the skin condition.
It is so incredibly stressful to be doing absolutely everything you can looking after your child’s health and feel like you’re not getting very far. Started research on mercury to find out my mother had fillings as a teenager… what next I wonder? Focus on what I can do: I found a good fishmonger and John and I started sharing lunch together on weekdays (Ian will not eat fish). But our dietician wants to treat me to help me deal better with stress, as he is convinced John is sensitive to my stress. We’ve worked so hard this last month on dealing with this fact, after some insightful prayer counseling the post-traumatic stress is a thing of the past, but the stress of his scratching and my reaction to it seemed an unbreakable cycle… that is until last week.
Firstly, the dietician said something about the skin’s blood circulation and wearing restrictive clothing – most of the time John wears full-length rompers which are getting too small for him and socks as mittens, to discourage his scratching (we’ve been trying to teach him to gently rub the flat of his hand but it’s not really working and most of the time we end up telling him he’s naughty for scratching). The idea of dressing him loosely is inconceivable, and I have been dreading summer. Secondly, we went to see an iridologist who confirmed everything we already knew but said something about him being ‘head dominant’ (intelligent but disconnected from body) and I understood the first aspect as John is very bright, but the other aspect didn’t sink in until a friend visited the next day, she is a nurse, and she mentioned something about the ‘psychology of itching’ and the importance of massage. It suddenly became clear that John was ‘disconnected from his body’ because we didn’t allow him to touch and in fact were telling him he was naughty. So against every fibre of my being, I let him wear nothing but a nappy on a warm afternoon and scratch to his heart’s (or more accurately his mind’s) content and said and did nothing. It was heartbreaking. For an hour. Then it stopped. And John has barely scratched since. Not even in the car, the pram, or the cot. He still has eczema. He still has food intolerances. But the suffering is over. So Ian and I continue to ignore the scratching and just enjoy this completely new child. The peace that has descended on this house is palpable. It seems too good to be true, except it is happening right in front of our eyes.
About the Author...
I am a princess. I am a daughter and sister and wife and mother and friend. I am very creative and have always wanted to be a nourisher but only recently discovered what that truly means, especially following my most important creative endeavour - my son. I continue to learn more about it and in relationship with my Creator I am confident I will become the nourisher and nurturer that I was made and meant to be.
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