I tested my baby’s poop. Here’s why.

“As a Mom myself, I know that most of us parents would do anything to make sure little one is growing and developing properly, and that we are doing what we can to maximize their health for later in life. One of the things that really helped me optimize my little guys health was testing his microbiome over time to make sure that it was developing appropriately.

Many parents and friends have asked me why I chose to do this, so let me share some of my own reasons as well as some of the other reasons you may want to test your kiddo!

When we introduced solid food to my baby, he got really constipated, which is common (and typically not alarming for a short period, but if it becomes chronic definitely speak to a doctor). We introduced prunes, pears, all the foods recommended and tried to increase his water. As a dietitian already knew the recommendations, but kept wondering if there was a way to know if my interventions were helpful. He began a pattern of going 5 or 6 days without a poop, then 2 or 3 days of multiple blowouts. It was also impacting his sleep, because by night 4 with no BM he was gassy, fussy, and clearly in discomfort. I knew I needed to know more about what was happening in his GI tract.

We did the test and found which bacterial genus were higher or lower than expected as well as how his diversity compared to the expected. We then were able to alter things in his diet like fiber content, water, and even add a probiotic. The best part was retesting in 3 months and seeing the progress in how much more diverse his microbiome was. We were able to get him back on a regular poop schedule, decrease his gas, and improve his sleep.

The more I looked into it, the more clearly I saw the benefits of testing for gas, bloating, diarrhea, constipation, poor sleep, or fussiness. I also began to see that even for healthy infants or toddlers with none of these issues, it’s eye opening to watch their microbiome development through serial testing. How cool to see the diversity increase every 3 months and become much more like an adult microbiome!

I recommend repeated microbiome tests now to all my new Mom friends and if any of the above story is relatable, maybe I’m recommending it to strangers now, too!”.

Author: a super awesome mom, from Snapi Health.

There’s more where that came from…

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