Follow Your Gut Podcast

It’s Not Just Eczema - It’s a Cry for Help

• Season 4 • Episode 155

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I remember standing at the pharmacy, holding a prescription for steroid cream in my shaking hand. My baby was in his car seat at my feet, his tiny body curled under a blanket, with an oozing rash covering his whole body. He had those little cotton mittens on - the ones I used to keep him from scratching himself raw - but even through the fabric, he had clawed at his skin so badly that streaks of blood ran down his face. He was screaming.

And I was sobbing into the phone with my husband.

The pharmacist told me it was normal. That so many babies use steroid creams. That everything was fine.

But everything in me knew it wasn’t.

I didn’t know then what I know now but I knew there had to be a deeper reason for my baby’s rash. That day, I walked out of the pharmacy without the cream. Still crying. Still unsure. But I was done letting our system silence my son’s symptoms.

That moment changed everything.

In this episode, I’m sharing the full story - not just what happened that day, but the truth I’ve uncovered since.

You’ll learn why eczema isn’t just a skin issue, what most doctors aren’t trained to see, and how real healing starts when we stop managing symptoms and finally get to the root.

Whether you’re here for your child or yourself, this episode will help you see eczema in a completely different light.

Thanks for listening! I would love to connect with you ♡


Sending love and wellness from my family yours,
xx - Juniper Bennett
Founder of ōNLē ORGANICS

I remember standing at the pharmacy, holding a prescription for steroid cream in my shaking hand. My baby was in his car seat at my feet, his tiny body curled under a blanket, with an oozing rash covering him head to toe. He had those little cotton mittens on his hands - the ones I put on to stop him from scratching himself raw - but even through the fabric, he had clawed at his skin so badly that there were streaks of blood dripping down his face. He was red, swollen, and screaming.

And I was sobbing into the phone to my husband, Ty.

The pharmacist was standing there, trying to reassure me. “It’s fine,” she said. “So many people use steroid creams. This is really normal. It’s okay.”

And Ty, bless him, he was trying to be the voice of reason. “They’re the professionals,” he said. “They know what they’re doing. Just follow their advice.”

But everything inside me was screaming no.

It wasn’t about distrust. It was that deep, unshakable knowing that this wasn’t the answer. I didn’t know any of the information I am going to share with you in this episode but my mama intuition knew that my son's skin wasn’t the problem. There was something deeper going on. I wanted to know WHY he had that rash. And covering it up felt like I was silencing something his body was begging me to hear.

I walked out that day without the cream. Still crying. Still unsure. But I knew I had to find a better way. Not just for my baby’s skin but for his whole body. For his future.

And that moment, that trembling, messy moment, was the beginning of everything I’m here to share with you today.

Here is what I didn’t know back then when I was sobbing at the pharmacy and laying awake deep into the night desperately searching google for answers - and what so many people still aren’t being told:

Eczema is not a skin condition. It’s a gut condition.

Whether you’re here listening to this for your child or for yourself, eczema is never just a skin issue. It’s the body’s way of detoxing - a cry for help from the inside out.

When the gut is overloaded with bad bacteria, yeast, mold, fungus or parasites, the immune system becomes inflamed. The liver can’t keep up. The lymphatic system slows down. And the skin, which is your body’s largest detox organ, steps in as the last resort.

This is why eczema appears or flares happen after antibiotics… after you eat certain foods… after your child gets sick… or when you go through a stressful season and suddenly your skin is on fire again. This is why things seem calm one day, and then out of nowhere, you or your child are inflamed, itchy, and flaring the next.

None of it is random. And as crazy as it sounds, your skin is actually helping. It’s picking up the slack for your gut, liver, and lymphatic system that are overwhelmed. It’s doing the detox work your body can’t quite keep up with by pushing things out through the skin because there’s nowhere else for them to go.

So while it may feel frustrating or unfair, those flares are actually a sign that the body is fighting like hell. This is why I always say that symptoms are a gift. They are the body communicating that it needs help. When my son was struggling, had he not had his rash, I wouldn't have known how badly his body needed help. 

But, when we go to the doctor we are taught to treat eczema like an isolated rash. We’re told to lather on creams, eliminate foods, switch soaps, stop breastfeeding and hope it goes away. But none of that gets to the root. None of that addresses the internal imbalance.

And this is where I have to tell you another story. Because it just happened recently, and it was one of those moments where I sat there thinking - this is exactly what’s wrong with how we’ve been taught to treat eczema.

A few months ago, I went to the dermatologist to get a mole removed from under my nose. I’ve had this mole since I was a little girl. Funny side note, when I told my dad I was getting it removed he told me I got that mole from picking my nose too much. And he was totally serious. 

Okay, so I’m sitting in the exam room, waiting for the dermatologist, and there’s this screen on the wall playing advertisements for different treatments. One of them is about eczema. So I click on it, curious - and of course it was an ad for a steroid cream.

That’s it. Nothing about gut health. Nothing about inflammation. Just a typical surface-level fix. I don’t know why this surprised me after the hell I went through to finally learn how to heal my son but I guess I was just hopeful that the western world was maybe catching on. But no.

Anyway, the dermatologist finally comes in. She starts injecting my upper lip, cheek and nose with numbing medication - which, by the way, hurts so much. And while she’s doing this, she casually asks what I do. I’m trying not to cry from the pain, and in between holding my breath I explain that I run an online supplement and education business focused on women’s and children’s gut health.

She looks confused. “Oh, like for constipation?” she asks.

And I just sit there in shock. This is someone who treats skin all day long - acne, rashes, eczema - and she has no concept of how the gut plays a role in it. None.

So I gently say, “Yes, sometimes it’s constipation, but a lot of times it shows up on the skin. Our skin is a mirror of what’s going on in the gut.”

And I said, “as I’m sure you know…” hoping to meet her where she was. But it was like my words didn’t even land. There was no recognition. No curiosity. Just… nothing.

And I’m sitting there thinking… this is the system we are told to trust. A system that isn’t taught to ask why. A system that’s trained to treat symptoms, not to look for the root issues.

Doctors are taught to manage. To diagnose. To prescribe. But they’re not taught to heal.

And I naively didn’t realize, until that moment, that most doctors aren’t even taught the foundations of our health - like the gut, the microbiome, or how deeply it all connects to the skin. And really, to every part of the body.

That realization hit hard.

I sat there feeling a bit broken. Heartbroken for all the people who don’t know any better than to go to the dermatologist when skin symptoms show up. Heartbroken for the old me - the version of myself who fought so hard to be seen, to be heard, to be taken seriously… in a system that was never designed to see me at all.

And the saddest part is… it’s not their fault. I truly believe that most medical professionals go into this work because they want to help. They dedicate their lives to it.

It’s the training. It’s the system that is driven by the pharmaceutical industry. It’s the culture that teaches them to manage symptoms instead of finding the root.

And that leaves so many people stuck in a heartbreaking cycle - constantly managing and suppressing, while the real cause just keeps growing underneath.

That mole removal ended in the most excruciating moment when she cauterized the skin and hit a spot that wasn’t numbed. It was awful. But what hurt more than that was sitting across from a skin specialist who didn’t know that skin symptoms begin in the gut.

I share that story not to shame but to validate the voice inside of you that’s wondering if there’s more to what you are seeing in yourself or your child.

You’re not crazy. You’re not overreacting. And you don’t need another prescription. You need a new path.

Which is exactly why I created the Eczema Healing Bundle.

It includes everything I wish I had that day at the pharmacy with my baby - when I was desperate for answers and terrified to trust what intuitively felt so wrong.

Inside the Eczema Healing Bundle, we have pre-bundled two of our most powerful tools - the Gut Rebalance Kit and the Body Biome Kit - to support your or your child’s body in healing both internally and topically.

The Gut Rebalance Kit is the foundation of this method. It gently clears overgrowths of bad bacteria, yeast, mold, fungus, parasites, and even built-up toxins and heavy metals - all of which are the culprits hiding beneath chronic skin issues like eczema. It calms systemic inflammation, restores balance in the gut, supports liver function, and strengthens the body’s natural detox pathways.

The Body Biome Kit supports the skin microbiome topically - helping to calm irritation, reduce flares, and support deep healing in harmony with what’s happening inside.

This healing method changed everything for us. And since sharing it, it’s gone on to help tens of thousands of women and children around the world. Because when you get to the root, when you rebalance the gut and stop fighting symptoms - healing actually happens.

This isn’t just another protocol. It’s a full-body invitation into true, lasting healing. The kind of healing that allows the skin to stop screaming - because the body is finally being heard.

If you or your child are struggling with eczema - first, take a moment to thank the body. Thank it for communicating with you. For not allowing the bad bacteria, yeast, or toxins to stay hidden. For doing everything it can to get your attention.

Eczema is a red flag. Not a flaw. Not a failure. A sign that healing is needed and very much possible.

When you support the body as a whole, when you stop treating the skin like the problem and start restoring balance from the inside, everything begins to shift. The inflammation calms. The flares ease. The skin finally gets to rest.

You can explore the Eczema Healing Bundle in the show notes. It’s the beginning of the healing I know you’ve been searching for - the healing I wish I had known was possible back then when my son first developed his rash and before we spent 2.5 really long and hard years fighting for his health. 

And now that you know, you can choose a better way. One that brings relief not just on the surface, but deep, lasting healing from within. Healing that goes beyond just today and actually changes the rest of your life. I can’t wait for you or your child to finally heal!