Full Transcript Why Travel Can Trigger Eczema Flares 0:00 Hey team welcome back and I know you've already worked really really hard to calm your child's eczema and maybe the itching has finally stopped and the 0:09 skin is finally starting to heal and you're finally sleeping again and now it's spring break and you want to travel and you want to visit family and you 0:16 want to go somewhere warm and you want to make new memories and within 24 hours of arriving everything explodes again and the scratching starts and the 0:26 redness comes back and the flare that you thought was finally behind you shows up again. 0:32 And most parents assume that it must be something that their child ate. 0:36 But I've seen something really interesting happen many times with families. 0:41 I've had clients tell me that their child's eczema has literally started to clear as they were driving home from the house that they were staying in over 0:49 spring break or any vacation. 0:51 And they're eating the same food and same supplements, same skincare. 0:55 The only thing that changed was the environment. 0:57 and today I want to walk you through how to travel without triggering a massive flare. 1:02 The hidden triggers that a lot of families never even think about and the things that you can do to protect your child's skin so you can enjoy your trip. 1:10 And before we dive in friends, if you are heading into the spring break travel season, I am running a short spring break skin protection sale on my eXmo 1:19 Safe Mineral Sunscreen, the Comfort Spray, and the Soothing Cream. 1:22 These things are essentials while traveling all the time, but especially while traveling. 1:27 And these are the exact products that we use for sun exposure, for chlorine, for sweat, and for travel irritation. 1:33 You can grab them all right now at the newly designed xmakids.com. 1:38 The discount will be applied automatically through this Sunday, March 22nd. 1:43 Okay, let's get into it. 1:44 Is your child struggling with itchy nights and endless flare-ups? 1:47 I'm Andra McHugh, mom of four and host of eczema kids. 1:51 Here you'll find natural solutions that actually work so you can heal your child's eczema without steroids, without the overwhelm, 1:57 and finally see calm, healthy skin again. 2:00 Let's get into it.
Packing the Right Skin-Safe Travel Essentials 2:01 So when my kids were little and honestly my youngest my little guy just turned four last week which is wild to say out loud because traveling used to look 2:11 really different for us and it has never been just throwing a couple of swimsuits and pajamas in a suitcase and heading out the door our packing was a 2:21 little more extensive then and still probably more extensive than others. 2:25 still today. 2:27 We, you know, we bring the pajamas and we bring the skincare and we bring soap even. 2:33 And back in the day, we even brought cotton diapers. 2:37 And I remember trips where my suitcase was just filled with things that most people don't think about. 2:43 We had the extra cloth diapers, we had the inserts, the oils, the creams, safe snacks, those little glass baby cups that we like to use. 2:52 Green sprouts, by the way. 2:54 It has a glass insert and then a plastic on the outside so it doesn't break. 2:58 Those are amazing if you have kids under two. 3:00 And it probably looked a little excessive. 3:03 And honestly, sometimes it still does. 3:06 But when you have a sensitive kid, the environment really matters. 3:10 And the fabrics touching their skin matter, and the soaps matter, and the water matters. 3:15 And the air inside where you're staying matters. 3:19 And when those things change suddenly during travel, the skin can react very quickly. 3:25 And yes, traveling sometimes meant bringing a few extra things. 3:30 Like we still, you know, packing bags if you're going on an airplane is expensive. 3:35 We drive a lot of places, so... 3:38 The minivan is our oyster, but if we do go on an airplane, we're not bringing more than two suitcases. 3:45 Like we're not, because it costs an arm and a leg to bring them each way. 3:48 So it just means we have to be really strategic with our clothes, which is just fine, especially kids' clothes. 3:56 They take up no room at all. 3:57 So, but I bring what I need so that I can sleep, so that my kids can sleep in, so that me and my husband can sleep. 4:03 And more than a few years ago now, you know, I brought, everything that I could so that their skin would stay calm and that we could actually enjoy the trip. 4:12 And that's still my biggest goal when we travel. 4:15 That's everyone's goal is to protect sleep so that you can actually enjoy the trip, be where you are. 4:21 And you know, if everyone sleeps, everything becomes so much easier because it's not like, oh, then you come home and you can catch up on sleep. 4:28 That doesn't exist. 4:30 There's no... 4:31 It doesn't exist. 4:32 You have to sleep every night. 4:34 And it's really easy to see why travel triggers flares. 4:39 It could be the food, and sometimes it is. 4:41 It's usually assumed to be the food. 4:43 But more often, travel creates this stack of stressors, right?
Hidden Indoor Air Triggers in Rentals and Hotels 4:47 The new environment, the new water, the different foods, the cleaning chemicals, the sleep disruption, the indoor air quality as a whole. 4:55 And all these things hitting the body at once can trigger inflammation. 4:59 And one of the most overlooked triggers is the inside air. 5:03 And I've seen this happen a lot. 5:05 I've lived through it, not through travel, but just in regular life and moving. 5:09 But if a family stays at a recently renovated Airbnb or an aunt's new house or you recently renovated or a brand new home or a hotel that was just updated 5:21 and there's new flooring and there's new paint or new cabinets or new furniture or all of the above and within hours their child can start itching and 5:30 new red patches appear and parents just assume it's something their child ate but then something really interesting happens because then they leave and 5:37 they get back in the car to drive home and the itching starts calming down literally during the drive. 5:43 And I've had multiple parents report that their child's redness just literally started disappearing on the drive home. 5:48 Nothing about the food changed. 5:49 Nothing about the supplements changed. 5:50 The only thing that changed was just the air that they're breathing. 5:53 And that's because new homes and renovations release chemicals called VOCs. 5:58 Those are volatile organic compounds. 6:00 It's the one of the biggest ones is formaldehyde. 6:04 Formaldehyde is found in pressed wood furniture and cabinets and laminate flooring and adhesive and mattresses and synthetic textiles of all kinds. 6:13 These materials release gases into the air in a process called off-gassing. 6:18 Adults could just notice this new house smell, but children with eczema react a lot more strongly. 6:24 These are canaries in the coal mines. 6:27 their immune systems are already very very sensitive and their skin barrier is already compromised and so the body responds with itching and with inflammation 6:37 and I don't say all this to make you spiral, I say it so that you can be strategic when you travel because there are things that you can control absolutely 6:46 while you're traveling and Honestly, it makes for a better experience when you just know these things and you do your due diligence in these areas. 6:54 And when you don't, you lose sleep, you experience flares, and it might not be the best vacation ever. 7:00 And if you're going through the time and effort and money to book the vacation and do it, let's make it the most fun that it can possibly be. 7:08 These few things make a big, big difference. 7:11 One is protecting the skin barrier. 7:13 Travel is not the time to experiment skin care or omit it. 7:18 When I travel, I always, always bring our mineral sunscreen. 7:22 I always bring the comfort spray. 7:23 I always bring the soothing cream. 7:25 And I bring the oil as well because sun exposure and chlorine and bug bites and sweat can irritate sensitive skin very, very quickly. 7:33 And those three products alone prevent a lot of travel flares. 7:38 And two is to be aware of indoor air because we just talked about it. 7:42 If you arrive somewhere and the house smells strongly of chemicals, you need to trust your instincts. 7:46 Open the windows. 7:47 Let the fresh air circulate. 7:49 Spend as much time as you possibly can outside, which is fine. 7:52 That goes along with your goals. 7:53 That's probably why you book the experience in the first place, but eat outside, like spend as much time as you possibly can outside.
Protecting Skin, Meals, and Sleep While Traveling 8:00 And if you're booking a rental that says brand new remodel, that means heavy off gassing. 8:06 So don't book that one. 8:08 Choose an older one. 8:09 I promise you'll have a better experience because My goodness, do they feel those exposures so much faster than we do. 8:16 If there's any Glade plugins or anything of that sort at a family member's house or an Airbnb of sorts, unplug those immediately. 8:25 I have definitely done that at my sister-in-law's house. 8:29 No, it's not comfortable, but it makes a difference. 8:31 It makes a real big difference because scent equals phthalates. 8:35 And again, we're just talking about indoor air quality. 8:38 There's things that you can do. 8:39 That's one of them. 8:40 Number three is just to plan your meals before you travel. 8:43 This makes travel dramatically easier. 8:46 Before leaving home, at least plan the first one or two days of meals. 8:50 Nothing complicated, just a really short list of safe foods. 8:54 And this helps in a lot of ways. 8:56 First, grocery shopping when you arrive becomes very easy, you know, the most manageable that it possibly can. 9:02 And second, if you're staying with family, that's how we travel. 9:04 We go and stay with family. 9:07 Those are our resorts. 9:09 Then you can send a list ahead of time and usually a well-meaning grandparent or an aunt wants to help and will happily get you at least the first two 9:19 days of food so you can feed your kids in a way that won't trigger them. 9:22 Just during this protective healing stage and that's where you are right now and that's fine. 9:27 So instead of guessing they can just pick up the things like fruits and vegetables and potatoes and organic rice and Safe proteins like that way when you 9:36 walk in the door, you already have food that works I mean when we drive somewhere I bring my insta pot. 9:41 I do. 9:41 I'm sorry. 9:42 I hate you You understand you're my people you get it it prevents a lot of flares, but ultimately I'm just trying to preserve my child's ability to Digest 9:54 food and I just want to give them the healthiest food that I possibly can every meal but that's why I xma is anything anymore because I am just diligent 10:02 about these things and Number four is we're protecting sleep. 10:04 We're protecting sleep as best we can because sleep stabilizes the immune system and when sleep drops itching increases and we just protect that as much 10:14 as possible when traveling. 10:16 We bring cotton pajamas, we bring a sound machine, we try and keep bedtime consistent, we just adapt to whatever time zone it is just immediately likely 10:25 when you get in somewhere it's going to be late, right? 10:27 It's going to be later than you want it to be. 10:29 And you just go to bed. 10:30 It doesn't matter. 10:31 It doesn't matter what time it is. 10:32 You just go to bed. 10:33 And we shower before going to bed. 10:35 I don't put my kids in the tub before traveling or staying with family because you don't know what that bathtub has been cleaned with. 10:41 You actually do know, you know, there's going to be some combination of bleach and unsavory chemicals. 10:46 It's not going to be the baking soda and hypochloric acid that you're using at home. 10:50 So skip that. 10:52 You don't want to sit in the tub with those residues. 10:54 So we just keep it simple. 10:56 We oil, quick shower, moisturize, and then bed. 11:00 And protecting sleep also means being prepared if someone gets sick because sickness on vacation is so real. 11:09 It happens and it can derail sleep very quickly. 11:11 We just went and visited my dad. 11:13 We drive there. 11:15 And if you wouldn't believe it, my husband had a kidney stone, but he thought he was dying and went to the ER. 11:22 And that was a bummer, but all is well. 11:25 It's okay. 11:26 But man, consignis derail a vacation super quickly. 11:30 So I always bring Dream Spray just to keep things consistent and also just help with that indoor air quality also, and just also help with germs. 11:39 And we bring small roller bottles of essential oils that we trust. 11:44 and then a few homeopathic remedies like genexa, cold crush, or tummy relief. 11:48 Just hopefully you never need them. 11:50 But having them protects sleep in a big way and prevents a midnight pharmacy run to get things that you don't even want to put into your child's body in 11:59 the first place. 12:00 So bring those things. 12:01 And I bring a small kit when we travel.
What to Do If a Flare Happens on Vacation 12:04 We bring the mineral sunscreen. 12:06 We bring the comfort spray. 12:07 We bring the soothing cream. 12:08 We bring the oil. 12:10 We bring Castile soap for hand washing and for dishes for like water bottle tops, things like that. 12:16 And we bring safe snacks. 12:18 Powder bars are really good. 12:21 You can get those online or on Amazon. 12:23 The lemon ginger ones are like an eczema safe package snack that are great. 12:28 Jackson sweet potato chips, seaweed snacks made with avocado oil. 12:33 All those are travel friendly, eczema safe package snacks. 12:37 And if a flare happens, if your child does flare while traveling, you don't have to panic. 12:42 Progress is not gone. 12:43 Healing. 12:44 It's not about never reacting again. 12:46 It's about building resilience. 12:49 And if your child flares but recovers quickly once you're back home, that is still progress. 12:54 Not everything has been delayed. 12:57 Not everything has been derailed by any, any means. 12:59 That's a really positive sign. 13:02 And if Right now, every trip leads to this intense itching and spreading rashes and long recovery times. 13:09 That usually means that the underlying system needs a deeper support. 13:14 And that's when we start looking at gut health and inflammation and detox pathways and skin barrier repair. 13:20 And that's the work that we do inside the eczema elimination method. 13:23 because your child should be able to travel, your family should be able to travel and go to the beach and stay in hotels and go on adventures. 13:29 The goal is resilient skin that can handle real life. 13:33 We're going for pharmaceutical, food-free kids that can handle real life. 13:38 That's the goalpost. 13:39 But before you're there, if you're heading into spring break travel, don't forget about the spring break skin protection sale running right now through 13:47 Sunday on our mineral sunscreen, the comfort spray and the super moisturizing soothing cream. 13:52 They're all eczema safe. 13:53 They're all organic. 13:54 They're all non-toxic and designed for sun and sweat and chlorine and travel irritation. 13:59 The sale runs through Sunday and you can grab everything at eczemakids.com. 14:03 Have an amazing spring break with your family's friends and I will talk to you next week. 14:08 Take care. 14:09 Thank you for helping with my eczema. 14:13 Love you. 14:14 Thank you for listening today, friend. 14:16 I know healing your child's skin isn't easy, but you're doing it one smart step at a time. 14:21 If this episode gave you a little hope or a better night's sleep, leave a quick review so more exhausted parents can find eczema kids and finally rest 14:29 easy too. 14:29 Follow, share, and let's help more kids heal. 14:32 Take care.
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