Wednesday, September 16, 2009

Probiotics


After recommending a probiotic for infants to a few mothers in the last few months, I thought it would be good to recommend it to all of you. To those of you that don't know what a probiotic is, here is the definition according to www.dictionary.com:

probiotic

noun
a beneficial bacterium found in the intestinal tract of healthy mammals; often considered to be a plant

Here is my experience with discovering them for my son:

The first 3 months of Park's life, he was a VERY "gassy" or what many doctors termed "colicky" baby. He could always let loose so-to-speak, and his body was always stiff with the uncomfortable gas floating throughout. I breastfed, and so I assumed that it was something I was eating. So I cut out everything (coffee to my despair, chocolate, milk products, etc.) and reintroduced them one by one in hopes of figuring out what was bothering him. Nothing changed. I would give him gas-ex, gripe water, and a few other remedies whenever he seemed irritable and although it seemed to soothe him temporarily, I knew it wasn't fixing any of the problem. Then I heard of the possibility he needed to be realigned with a chiropractor. So I called a woman who was highly recommended to me....Dr. Christine in Park City. She was my saving grace.

After telling her of Park's condition, she commented she would be more than happy to realign my little guy but that she wanted to ask me something first. She asked me if I had taken any antibiotics while breastfeeding. I had. Then she went on to tell me that the antibiotics, like everything else, pass through the breast milk and into the baby's fragile tummy...wiping out any good bacteria established. This could be the cause of Park's condition. So she told me to get a probiotic for infants and to try it for a week and if nothing changed, to bring Park in to see her.

I purchased the probiotic at Whole Foods and gave it a whirl. All it took was 3 days and my child has never suffered from gassiness or "colic" again.

Probiotics are beneficial to all of us. I still give it to Park once in a while by mixing it in with his juice or is yogurt. It has little to no flavor so he doesn't detect it.

The point of my story, the simplest problem usually always has the simplest solution.


Have a good morning!

Mommy Bridget

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