The Back Bone of Corey’s Road to Healing.
This super easy recipe is packed with so much goodness for nutritious skin healing and more. This immunity building broth is rich in glycine (needed to build connective tissue so crucial in healing skin infections), collagen, calcium, magnesium and also vitamins B6, A and C from the vegetables used.
It was only after I stopped working when he was 1, and took the time to research and refine this nutritious skin healing broth recipe, that he started to showed a noticeable improvement of his eczema. When I say a noticeable improvement, I mean consistently more and more healthy, soft baby skin. Before taking this stock, he might have some random days of good skin from the rigorous skin care regime, but it always felt a bit dry and parched (no matter how much fluids he drank). I was inspired after reading about healing the gut to build immunity for the skin (among other benefits). And with Corey’s healing, I witnessed first hand it’s impact through this broth.
The photo on the left shows the flare up he suffered on his back after we came back from a holiday in Perth (8 June 2017). As I was unable to bring my homemade broth, I had to use store bought ones and his skin suffered while we were there. The photo on the right shows one week later (16th June 2017) with clear smooth skin. The white discoloration is due to scaring from the eczema inflammations. A quick check with Dr Hugo confirmed the scaring and that it was not fungal and will hopefully fade in time with moisturization and good skincare.
Related: Read about the one moisturiser that rid us of many itchy days
HOW MUCH NEEDED TO SEE THE DIFFERENCE?
From the time he was 1 year old, Corey takes 2 helpings of this nutritious skin healing broth daily in the form of rice porridge, at lunch and dinner. I also supplement it with skin healing vegetable puree and fruit puree (recipes will be shared in later posts). When he first started taking this, it took around 2 weeks for noticeable improvement. This was probably due to the extensiveness of his eczema and every baby is different, so be patient with it. No salt nor preservatives are used in this recipe and it tastes great just on its own.
The following photos give you a sense of what we were dealing with one year ago in June 2016:
A MELTING POT OF BONE BROTHS PRACTICES
This recipe is adapted from THE ECZEMA DIET which is my cornerstone reference in building Corey’s diet. I have referred to infant food charts from Baby Center.com for age appropriate solids introduction, and also tips from my grandmother’s cantonese soup recipes.
I married the best practises of making bone broths along with adding my grandmother’s favourite soup ingredient, old cucumber, which has lots of healing properties. In Chinese culture, old cucumber is cooling and balances out the heatiness ‘Yang’ in our bodies. It also contains vitamins B6 and C which are crucial for healthy skin.
MULTIPLE USES FOR THE WHOLE FAMILY
I love this recipe for its multiple uses. The natural sweetness of this stock makes it a favourite staple in my family. We seldom need to add salt or other flavourings to it. We make Chinese soups using this as a base and it helps to boost immunity. This is particularly useful in a household with 2 young babies, especially as my 3 year old toddler goes to childcare and bring home lots of germs.
A FEW THINGS TO NOTE BEFORE WE START
A broth is not medicine, so taking it alone will not create miracles and make your baby’s eczema disappear overnight. Other skin happy nutrients of a good mix of vegetables and fruits, along with a good skin care regime will be key to battling baby eczema. I will share tips on skin care and other yummy purees for babies in later posts so check back later.
This recipe is suitable for babies 9 months and older who have started solids comfortably. Follow this Baby Center.com’s method of introducing any new ingredients listed in this recipe, especially if they are just starting on solids. This is to make sure they are not allergic to any of the ingredients used. You can feed it to babies as a soup, or use it to make rice porridge, which is highly recommend as the rice absorbs all the flavour and goodness of the broth.
Related: Corey’s Skin Healing Broth is now a Breastmilk Booster!
The following photos show him enjoying his lunch today!
Do give it a try!
I know what you’re thinking, with work and babies and hundreds of other chores “do I even have the time to make this?” I truely believe every eczema baby (or anyone who needs an immunity boost) will benefit from this nutritious skin healing broth. I take private orders for this and also a breastmilk booster version using green papaya. Contact me for details at amanda@projectsimplicity.sg

Ingredients
- 1 fresh sakura chicken carcass (washed with feet and wing tips included)
- 6 chicken feet (can be bought from wet markets)
- 1 small brown onion
- 1 large carrot
- 300G old cucumber
- 2 sticks of celery
- 1 litre of water for vinegar soak
- 1 litre of water to make stock
- 1 tbs of apple cider vinegar
Instructions
Place all chicken parts into the stock pot and add the water and apple cider vinegar. Let it sit for 1 hour. The apple cider vinegar will help to leech more minerals from the bones.
After an hour, pour away the water and add the vegetables. Then start a low fire and brown the chicken and vegetables (No oil is added as chicken has natural oils) till a nice aroma fills the kitchen, or the chicken turns slightly brown.
Then add 1 litre of cold water and a simmer over an uncovered pot. Let the stock simmer for the next 3 hours, occasionally checking on the water level (which should nicely cover all ingredients) and top up if necessary. When your chicken bones have broken down which is approximately by the third hour, turn off the fire.
The cooking is essentially done. Carefully sieve out all the solids. I find that it helps to sieve a few times and use a cheesecloth together with a regular sieve. Take particular care with this step to avoid risking having any small bits which may be dangerous for young babies. Transfer to a glass jar and refrigerate overnight. A layer of fats would have risen to the top and harden by the next day. Skim off this layer and discard before using as it is unhealthy.
This homemade broth will tend to have a cloudy appearance. Even after making this hundreds of times and sieving it more than once it still has some particles. Its normal and maybe its because homemade broth has so much more ingredients than the store bought ones! Anyway it did bother me for a while so I just had to check it up, and i'm happy to report that it is the taste that matters! And more importantly, it is the prized gelatin that you want to aim for as that's how you know your stock is jammed packed with nutritious skin healing glycine.
I add one extra step as I have this Tiger non electric thermal cooker
I found that by placing the cooked stock immediately into the outer pot of the Tiger non electric thermal slow cooker for another 4 to 6 hours enhanced the flavour.
Notes
I use a Tiger Magic Thermal slow cooker to lengthen the cooking time, but this recipe also works with regular stock pots. Once the bones have broken down, the stock is flavourful enough for use. I use old cucumber which is readily available in our Southeast Asia region. It is known for its cooling properties in Chinese culture. You can replace this with regular cucumber which also has similar properties and has a mild taste that makes for a great broth base. This stock is fresh for up to one week in the refrigerator. My son is now 18 months old and I use approximately 100ml for each meal (approximately 5 - 8 tbs). You can also make bigger batches and freeze into ice cube trays. So far we love this stock so much in our house that we never have enough to freeze and end up making it fresh weekly!
23 comments
[…] been spending a bit of time to document our eczema healing journey, and started with sharing Corey’s Nutritious Skin Healing Broth. Next up I’ll be discussing how a simplified skincare routine and Simplicity Parenting played […]
[…] of fruits and vegetables such as papaya and celery beneficial for skin repair. I make my own skin healing broth and have a few recipes for skin healing baby purees. It is easier to tailor a baby’s diet for […]
[…] I used green (unripe) papaya in a modified version of Corey’s nutritious skin healing broth recipe. It tasted great and I’ll be posting the modified recipe up […]
Thank you very much. Will try it out!
What do you mean by 1 litre of water for vinegar soak? And the broth can use to make porridge right?
Hi Michelle, soaking the bones in vinegar first helps to break down the bone matter and releases more nutrients from the bones. Read more about this crucial step in the following link!
http://www.intentionallydomestic.com/the-five-biggest-bone-broth-mistakes-you-might-be-making/
Hi Michelle, yes you can use it to make porridge, noodle soup and also pastas. Its a great way to start weaning baby. All natural flavours with no salt or additives. You can add salt to taste if serving to adults and older children.
Thanks for sharinh, mummy Amanda. I am a working mum which is always struggling for time. Can I use the same ingredients but simplify the process? Eg. Put in all ingredients as well as apply cider..and use pressure cooker to cook for 1 hr?
Thanks for sharing. Can I use the same ingredients but simplify the process? Put in all ingredients as well as apply cider..and use pressure cooker to cook for 1 hr? I am a working mum.
Hi Hann!! Yes you can definitely simplify the process using the pressure cooker! In fact I’ve recently bought one and been trying it out.. will post my recipe and ingredients once I get the proportions right!
What can i replace old cucumber? Its hard to find that right now. And instead of chicken can i just yse chicken feet?
You could use cucumber or even potatoes to substitute the old cucumber. I use green papaya for this recipe too which can be found in Asian/Thai supermarkets. As for the protein, I use chicken bones (not the chicken meat) and feet. Technically you can use just chicken feet. I have never tried but i suspect using all feet might make your broth too oily. Moreover the bones have alot of marrow and good minerals when broken down during the cooking process, so I would not omit the bones. I do use a higher proportion of feet to bones in my commercial for-sale broth because they contain a lot of collagen. Take some time to experiment and find what works for you 🙂
Hi Amanda, for the Sakura chicken carcass, are they sold in NTUC or local wet markets? Or it is the whole chicken? Sorry I’m just confused. Thanks in advance!
Hi Lisa, you should be able to buy sakura chicken carcasses from wet markets. Tbe supermarkets do not sell. Some people have mentioned they are unsure if the wet market really gave them sakura bones, in which I usually advise them to buy a whole chicken so you get both the meat and bones. It’s a zero waste solution which is both great for the environment and your family too. Learning to cut up a whole chicken is in fact pretty easy once you get the hang of it. If you rely on helper you can find clips on YouTube for her to learn how to cut up a whole chicken into parts and bones.
Hi,
Why do you throw away the water with the chicken the first time…? Doesn’t that waste the nutrients that had come out of the chicken with the apple cider vinegar?
Looking forward to hearing from you!
Jen
Hi, can substitute chicken bone with pork bone? Or is it that chicken bone is more better in terms for skin healing than pork?
Hi, I think the quality of the bones is more important than the type. The bones should ideally be from free range animals or organic, I use Kee Song Lacto bones for mine. I also like to use more chicken feet because it contains a lot of skin healing collagen which is what gels the broth.
Both pork and beef bones will work too as long as they have marrow and try your best to get organic ones if possible. Otherwise, any broth is better than no broth
Hi Amanda,
I have a 1.5 year old son and have tried everything but this. Today is the second day of the same exact broth minus the cucumber since i was out and he is itching at it so its spreading and i am just so devastated. I will continue to pray about it and do the epsom salt baths.
I did allergy testing and nothing came back out of the ordinary . Switched laundry detergent to almost nothing and now he has a different kind if eczema on tummy and new kind on his scalp.
Anyway, i am following your story and staying strong.
Take care and thanks for sharing!
Hi Alex, my heart goes out to you, I know how tough it is when we see them itching and do not know the cause. The broth is more for nutrition and will take weeks to help clear your son’s system. In the meantime, keep monitoring and diary down what your son is exposed to or what he could have been doing before the itch attack. Depending on where you are in the world, dust mite could be an issue (if the itch attack happened indoors). For outdoors, ragweed and pollen are common in western countries. Keep going and don’t give up. I’ve taken this battle for 4 years now and while the itch doesn’t disappear completely, we have simplified our daily lives to the point where the itch and reactions are reduced to a manageable level. This is my wish for you too, big hugs:)
Hi Amanda, I’m keen to try the recipe but am wondering how I can introduce cucumber, celery and onion to my 6mth old baby to test for allergies? How do you prepare them?
I first came across Amanda’s post in 2017 when my little man R was 7.5mths… and she shared this bone broth recipe… we committed to making this weekly and he has it with most of his meals, as a soup on the side – which he loves! While I cannot guarantee definitively that his eczema is gone because of it, but we are no longer plagued by bad flares… in fact, there’s nothing a little bit more moisturizer won’t help on an odd day. More importantly, he has never been ill for except one bout of stomach flu and a Flu A infection passed unfortunately over by my helper. Today, R is 5yrs + 4 months, strong as a bull, tough as a nail. I often secretly think to myself gratefully that the broth must have something to do with it 🙂 … we will keep going long as he is willing to have it.
Amanda – thank you so much again. I hope you and Corey and the family are doing very, very well xx
Hi Amanda, you have done exceedingly well in healing Corey’s skin from the inside out. His skin is amazingly smooth, clear and healthy now. My 9 month old recently started developing eczema all over her arms and legs. I am making broth for her too but she’s an extremely picky eater so I try to spoon feed her the broth even if it just a few sips daily. I have read that bone broth is high in histamines and may worsen the eczema in some individuals. How did you manage this? Also, did you encounter constipation issues with Corey during the healing process? My little one is quite constipated too and refuses to drink plain water. Blessings to you and your family. Look forward to hearing from you. Many thanks!
Hi Sarah, allergies and eczema are too complex to cover all the bases. Understanding what my son’s triggers were for his eczema has helped me to decide which therapies worked best for him. My son’s exposure to his allergens triggered his eczema, so histamine was not a main concern, and thus I didn’t feel I needed to worry about histamine exposure in the bone broth.
So it depends on whether histamine is a huge trigger for your baby girl. I suggest checking in with an allergist on this as they might be able to perform proper tests for this.
Yes my son does have issues with constipation, papaya works wonders for him! I purée it and freeze it into popsicles or eat as is. If papaya is not available in your part of the world try some prune juice and drink lots of water.
Good luck and speedy healing to you and your little one 🙂