Keeping Baby’s Gut Healthy

I’ll admit it, I’m pretty paranoid about my boy’s guts.  That might sound weird if you haven’t read my blog before now but, for those of you who went through our gut journey with Caleb, you get it!

You see, Caleb was a horribly cranky baby!  I thought I was the worst mama and didn’t know if having more kids was something I wanted to do.  The pediatrician told me that some babies just cry and that he would grow out of it.  Fast forward to Caleb being 18 months old.  He began swelling up like crazy – waking up not being able to open his eyes, having horribly fat ankles and feet, and was grouchy and lethargic all the time!  Of course, we took him into the doctor, and they immediately sent us to the hospital for blood work – fearing that it could be leukemia, kidney failure, or a host of other major problems.

Thankfully, once all the labs were run and other testing happened, we found out that it was simply a major dairy intolerance.  The best case scenario!

Fast forward to being pregnant with Josiah.  I was all sorts of prepared for him to have the same dairy intolerance.  I was ready to take myself off dairy while I was nursing him, not allow him dairy products while beginning solids, and was definitely going to be introducing a probiotic early.  I’m happy to say that only one of those has happened with my second born – the probiotic!  Since learning about healthy guts through this dairy intolerance journey with Caleb, you better believe Josiah’s getting a probiotic – even though he, thankfully, doesn’t have an intolerance!

Why give a probiotic to a healthy baby?

A probiotic is able to reduce harmful gut bacteria

It’s crazy to think that babies – even breastfed babies – can have harmful gut bacteria but it’s totally true!  A new UC Davis Medical Center clinical trial was recently published in mSphere and shows for the first time ever that a probiotic is able to significantly reduce potentially harmful gut bacteria linked to short- and long-term health issues like colic, eczema, allergies, diabetes and obesity.  I don’t want my precious boy to deal with ANY of those health issues!

Start gut healing young!

The medical community is starting to understand that the development of the gut microbiome (the collection of good and bad bacteria in the gut) within the first few months of life is super important!  The more good bacteria is present in the gut, the more it crowds out he bad bacteria!  Unfortunately, today, more and more babies are experiencing a disruption in their gut, causing more bad bacteria to thrive.

Counteracts gut harming antibiotics

Unfortunately, even healthy babies get sick at times and sometimes those babies need antibiotics to get well.  I know too many children who have recurrent ear infections and, because of that, have been on antibiotic after antibiotic – healing the infection – but killing off good gut bacteria as well as bad.  My own boys were exposed to antibiotics at birth since I was group B strep positive and had to have it in my IV.  Antibiotics have their time and place but we mamas need to remember the importance of building back up healthy bacteria after antibiotics!

But Why Evivo as the Choice of Probiotics for Babies?

We love Evivo probiotics for so many reasons!  We love that Evivo is the only probiotic that is clinically proven to

• Restore a baby’s gut microbiome 100 percent of the time with the good bacteria B. infantis
• Transform special carbohydrates found in breast milk to promote the growth of B. infantis
• Defend from potentially harmful bacteria linked to colic, eczema, allergies, diabetes and obesity.

I love that I can mix it with breastmilk so Josiah’s getting the health properties of breastmilk AND the health properties of the probiotic!  It’s a win-win!  The Evivo study marks a major milestone in gut health as it’s the first ever to demonstrate that a probiotic can substantially and beneficially remodel and protect a baby’s gut.

Just reading the study done on Evivo makes my heart happy – knowing that my little one’s gut is in good hands!

Your Turn:
Have you had to deal with childhood allergies or food intolerances?
Do you give your baby probiotics?  Why or why not?

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