Gut Health And Your Baby

Did you know that your gut health is already being blue printed while you are in the womb developing and that the first two years of your life are the most critical when it comes to the health of your gut?

The scientists’ in the documentary by Jonathan Otto: Autoimmune Secrets, state that while the foundation for the microbiome is laid in the first 6 months of life, that the most crucial stage of your babies gut microbiome is going to be determined from the age of 6 months to 2 years of life. As parents, that is a heavy load to carry since the decisions we make for our babies can make a large impact on their health in later years. Check out some of the decisions that determine how your gut microbiome forms in early years.

The Microbiome and Delivery

In Jonathan Otto’s series, they talk about how the gut microbiome of your baby will be altered due to nutrition and exposures (toxins, bacteria, antibiotic use, stress, etc) the mother has during the development of the baby. While all the things listed alter the gut microbiome of your baby. They discuss how antibiotic use has the biggest impact. While they can be life saving, they are also not only wiping out bad bacteria in the body but they also are wiping out the beneficial bacteria as well. So it is crucial that if you are required to take any kind of antibiotic during your pregnancy or after that you are taking a probiotic to replenish the beneficial bacteria.

When it comes time for delivery this will be your babies very first microbiome exposure outside of the womb. Whether the baby is born through a vaginal or cesarean delivery will alter the babies microbiome. How so? In the documentary, they discuss, if possible, you have a vaginal delivery because there are beneficial bacteria that the baby passes through in the vaginal canal to boost their immune system and the bacteria also signals the tight junctions in their gut lining to close up. While if your baby is born via C-section, that babies first bacteria exposure is to the doctors gloves that is delivering your baby. Since we know it is not possible for all mothers to be able to have a vaginal birth, a suggestion that the health professionals give is to have your doctor or midwife swab the vaginal canal of the healthy mother and then spread that onto the skin of your baby so that they still have that exposure to those benefits.

Microbiome and Feeding

Next up, breastfeeding or formula feeding? Once again, we are familiar with the fact that not all mothers are going to be able to breastfeed their babies, but if possible it is recommended that you breastfeed your baby. Breast milk has many healthy bacteria and prebiotics to help your baby get off to a healthy start, not to mention it is just overall better for them nutritionally. Some of the bacteria that your baby will receive during breastfeeding is polysaccharides, fructooligosaccharides (a sugar that feeds the babies beneficial gut bacteria) and bifido bacteria.

If you are formula feeding, you will want to make sure you are using BPA free bottles as exposure to BPA’s in the first 4 months of life is shown to significantly affect the microbiome of your baby negatively. Also be sure to find a probiotic that will replenish the bifidobacteria as most infants fed formula are not getting this. On the probiotic label you would be looking for Lactobacillus and bifidobacterium. If you need some great formula options for your baby check out these here. They were shown to be the best formulas for 2019, which you will notice most of the top ones are from Europe because of the higher standards in food regulations they have. They have to be free from pesticides and are GMO free. While the U.S. has “regulations”, they allow our formulas to be made of corn sugars, which is not doing our babies gut health any justice, and many are found to contain aluminum.

In my own experience, I was not educated on gut health for my first two children but with my latest pregnancy I was more aware of things I was putting into my body not only for my baby but for myself as well. I was ultimately eating better and cleaner this time around, not using personal care products with loads of hormone disrupters in them and I was not on medication for my Crohn’s disease. Which let me tell you, I have and still go through phases where I feel “mom guilt” for not knowing better with my first two, but there is no time to look back and focus on the regrets but only move forward and doing the best that I can for my kids now that I have this knowledge.

I want to share my recent experience with my son, Rhys, who is 3 months old. He went through a really fussy couple days and then everything seemed to go back to normal until a few days later, he broke out with eczema all over his legs and had a few spots on his elbows too.

With his fussy spell I never really thought to much about it because he has been drooling like mad crazy and thought he might already be experiencing discomfort with teething. However, once he broke out in eczema I knew right away that fussy spell was not due to teeth, but was actually all to do with a gut health reaction. Something was actually upsetting his tummy those days and now it was manifesting through a crazy eczema breakout! Immediately, I started to think about what I had eaten that might be causing this reaction and I realized I had been eating some homemade granola. The granola had organic rolled oats, nuts, cinnamon, maple syrup and coconut oil in it. I have not had oats for quite some time since I started my health journey, and my stomach was acting a little weird. Not only was my stomach acting a little odd, but now Rhys’s body was having a reaction to it as well. I cut out the granola and now a few weeks later his legs look a lot better! I not only cut out the granola which I am looking at as the root cause to Rhys’s flare, but really have tried to limit any foods that could increase inflammation (sugar, gluten, dairy). I do not eat much of these inflammatory foods to begin with to try to prevent an inflammatory response, being I have an autoimmune condition, but I do have them occasionally. Check out the list of symptoms that your baby may be sensitive to something you are eating:

• eczema
• nasal congestion
• hives
• rash
• fussy
• vomiting
• diarrhea or constipation

What To Do If Your Baby Is Having A Reaction?

If you feel like your baby is exhibiting symptoms above I would suggest trying an elimination diet where you take a 2 week break from eating the inflammatory food item(s) and see if things get better. You will want to eliminate one thing at a time so you will know which food it was that was causing the issue for your baby. Most often babies will be having a reaction to dairy, soy (which I recommend to stay away from anyway), corn, nuts or eggs. So for example, you would take a 2 week break from dairy and if after 2 weeks of breastfeeding you do not see a difference in the symptoms, try eliminating soy and so on and so forth until you pinpoint the irritant for your baby. Keeping a food journal and your babies reaction can help you keep track of things in this process. Once you find what your baby is sensitive to it is recommended you avoid that food item for 6 months and then slowly try to introduce it to your baby again. If you read my article, Do You Have a Leaky Gut?, you will learn more about what leaky gut is, conditions linked to leaky gut, and that one of the keys to letting the gut repair itself is to avoid the food that is causing the issue to begin with to reduce inflammation. This process can be used for your baby when you start introducing solid foods as well.

Final Thoughts

There are so many things that are out of our control when it comes to what kind of delivery you have, if you are able to breastfeed or not, but either way you are an amazing mother! Moms’ and dads’ there is so much more you can do for your child as they grow. Making sure they get plenty of whole foods, enough sleep, staying away from plastics and parabens and the list goes on. The more healthy habits that you can establish from a young age the better the odds are that they will carry that with them through life. If your kids are older it may take time to switch to healthier habits and you may get kick back but do not give up on them. My goal is simply to bring knowledge to you about things I wish I knew before having my kids, because knowledge is power!

To all the parents that read this: it may not always feel like it but you are AMAZING and keep being rock-stars!

XOXO, Brooke

Resources

• National Center for Biotechnology Information: The Infant Microbiome Development: Mom Matters
• Happy Family Organics: Is Your Baby Reacting to Something in Your Milk?
• Jonathan Otto: Autoimmune Secrets
• BestBabyFormula: The World’s Best Baby Formulas in 2019
• Whole Mamas: Setting Baby Up for Optimal Gut Health

*Disclaimer: Always consult with a professional medical practitioner before taking any dietary supplements or recommendations listed, especially if pregnant, nursing, taking prescription medications or under a doctor’s medical care.