As with adults babies too can benefit by having probiotics introduced into their diet. Babies whilst being born vaginally can contract bacteria from the mother through the vagina. Some babies get an infection known as thrush. This is commonly noticed as a heavy white furring on the babies tongue. Babies can also have bacteria transferred to them via the mother’s breast during breast feeding. Mothers may be a little wary about giving probiotics to newborns or older babies but if you wish to protect the newest member of your family as the mother you can take a probiotic supplement as well as eat foods rich in probiotics which in turn will automatically transfer to your unborn baby and will continue to be transferred through breast milk. If you are not breast feeding there are products on the market such as formulas which also contain probiotic goodness. Some mothers have found that colic doesn’t react well to probiotics and so if this condition has been noted in other children in the family it may very well be a good idea to start protection early.
Probiotics for Babies – Inform your doctor
By all means you should inform your paediatrician of what your intentions are before embarking on any probiotic usage. Babies who spit up a lot may have tummy upsets which are occurring from intestinal bacterial digestive imbalances, probiotic therapy could help a young infant immensely. Recently with studies being carried out in Australia it has been found that in some premature babies, some as early as 8 weeks premature, they can suffer with a debilitating illness of the bowel known as necrotising enterocolitis or NEC. With this disease the baby’s bowel is found to have been colonized by bad bacteria instead of the normal good bacteria and in some can be fatal. As there are not many effective treatments for this condition surgery is the most dominant treatment and doctors state that prevention is the best option. In Sydney’s Nepean Hospital the doctors there have been trialing a probiotic supplement on all babies born 8 weeks premature. Doctors have sourced the most pure of probiotics in Switzerland in the form of yogurt, mixes it with breast milk and is then given to babies via a feeding tube here is the link http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-04-10/new-hope-for-premature-babies/4619984 by checking it out you will come across a couple of successful case studies. Right now the hospital states that any premature babies are automatically given the probiotic treatment and since initiating this protocol no premature babies have developed NEC. The cost of treating a small infant with this disease in Australia is $250,000 as opposed to a $75 mixture of probiotics and breast milk – seems like the writing is on the wall with a big up to probiotics here.