My daughter is on penicillin right now for strep throat.

In a separate post I explain about why I chose to treat her strep throat with antibiotics, and the steps I’m taking to protect her gut during antibiotics. I call it my Gut-Protection Plan

Probiotics are NOT part of her Gut-Protection Plan. Gasp!

Want to know why?

I'm sure you do 😉

Probiotics are given during and after antibiotics for 2 reasons:

1. Lower the risk of antibiotic-associated diarrhea (AAD)

2. Help with microbiome recovery after antibiotics

First, the diarrhea. She's on oral Penicillin, the first-line treatment for strep. Penicillin rarely causes diarrhea. So I’m not too worried about it. If she was getting a different antibiotic like amoxicillin-clavulanate (causes diarrhea in 20% of kids), I’d probably give her a probiotic during the antibiotic course.

But, let's talk #2. Why wouldn't I give a probiotic to support recovery of good bacteria after antibiotics? There is some research that probiotics can help, but the literature hasn’t totally convinced me yet...

So instead of using probiotics, I'm using prebiotics. In other words, instead of giving her good bacteria, I'm feeding the good bacteria that she already has.

There are 3 major reasons for this approach:

1. I’m focused on different bacteria than what is found in probiotics

Instead of probiotics, I’m giving her a blend of PREbiotic fibers and supplements. I prefer to use prebiotics because they support a wider range of good bacteria.

For example, most probiotics only contain a handful of bacterial strains from the Bifidobacterium and/or Lactobacillus families, or one strain of Bacillus. I’m more interested in her Faecalibacterium, Roseburia and, E. rectale. These superstars of the gut microbiome simply aren’t available as probiotics.

2. I want to support microbiome diversity

For a 7 year old, increased microbiome diversity is a very good thing. So why would I give her a probiotic that supports just a handful of bacteria?

There are soooo many more bacteria in the gut than just Bifidos and Lactobacillus.

Prebiotic fibers will support Bifido, but they’ll also support other amazing health-promoting bacteria. 

Faecalibacteria and Roseburia produce butyrate. Butyrate is crucial for a healthy gut lining. So by feeding those bacteria, I keep their counts high, keep butyrate up, and protect against leaky gut.

3. Prebiotics are cheaper than probiotics

I spent about $55 total on her prebiotic fibers. At face value, that probably seems about the same or more expensive than probiotics

If I bought a good probiotic for her, I’d spent at least $20/month x 2 months = $40

The prebiotics I bought will last her 2 months and there will be plenty left over. I’ll add the leftovers to recipes to give the entire family a prebiotic boost.

Hope that explains it!

If you’re worried about antibiotic damage to your child’s gut microbiome, book a Discovery Call and let’s see if a Gut Health Test is right for your child.

Marilyn