Do baby probiotics work?

October 17, 2015 9:05 AM

I have a four month old breast-fed baby who poops every five or six days. I know that's normal, but she's very uncomfortable and sleeps terribly on the last day or two. I've heard that baby probiotic drops help, but they are so expensive. Before I start spending $30 a month to get my baby to poop I want to know if they're actually effective. So, on a scale of (1) amber teething necklace to (10) baby Tylenol, how well do they work to prevent baby constipation?
posted by that's how you get ants to Health & Fitness (18 answers total)

Do you have solid reasons to suspect the discomfort and/or the bad sleeping are directly related to the (not) pooping? Babies can have a lot of reasons for those things. As you say, this is normal, so it doesn't seem to me like there's any baby constipation happening that you need to prevent. What does her pediatrician say? Are the drops you're considering FDA approved or part of the large, unregulated, mislabeling-rampant, actively dangerous supplement market?
posted by brainmouse at 11:13 AM on October 17, 2015 [1 favorite]

Have you tried tummy massage and bicycling those adorable little legs?
posted by heathrowga at 11:40 AM on October 17, 2015 [3 favorites]

I had a very fussy exclusively breast fed baby that we tried the pricy probiotics (my first kid, what can I say). No significant change. In the end we learned it was reflux and a couple months of baby Zantac was an amazing improvement. Second baby pooped every 10 days. Somewhat fussy but not constipated. Doc said she was "clean burning" ;). The "I love U" baby tummy massage along with bicycling her little legs helped her toot which made her happy.

I have a bunch of mom friends who were all about the probiotics and I saw no big change in their behavior. So overall I would rate them as a "5" since they don't seem to cause any harm, might help in some cases and unlike the Amber necklaces don't present a choking hazard or prevent the parent from looking for other forms of relief.
posted by saradarlin at 11:42 AM on October 17, 2015

I don't think probiotics will encourage baby to poop sooner or to be more comfortable while pooping. Breast milk has that stuff in there already. I'd look into the massage and bicycle legs movement and, as said above, maybe check to see if baby has reflux. Also, Wonder Weeks helps show what ages the baby can sleep less well due to mental leaps.
posted by jillithd at 12:05 PM on October 17, 2015

We gave our 3 month old probiotics after thrush and didn't notice a big change... He was quite constipated though... We felt that a bit of boiled water between feeds worked but what made a big difference was lactase drops in his bottles. You can also use it breastfeeding... But it's not convenient as you have to pump. But the big clue was green poop that had a grass like clump... And very unsettled mornings. I'm now weaning him off the lactase.
posted by flink at 12:16 PM on October 17, 2015

Response by poster: Thanks, everybody. I know there are other things to ease her discomfort, in fact she's my third baby to go through this. Probiotics weren't around for the other ones, though, and they sounded promising since they're an actual thing for adults. I thought I'd give them a try until I saw them shelved with the gripe water and "colic drops" at the store and got suspicious.
posted by that's how you get ants at 12:25 PM on October 17, 2015

Mom, have 6 oz prune jc, and chase it with a pint of water once a day until baby poops at least every other day.
posted by Oyéah at 12:43 PM on October 17, 2015

Baby probiotics are definitely not snake oil. But I'm not sure they will help in this case. I don't think that making the baby poop is something they are indicated for.

Was the baby born by c-section? That's the usual case where probiotics are strongly recommended.
posted by 256 at 12:51 PM on October 17, 2015 [1 favorite]

Zantac helped when our second child had this problem - also exclusively breastfed, also pooping once in 5 days.
posted by netsirk at 1:31 PM on October 17, 2015

Eating oranges is an old wives remedy for constipated breastfed babies, that I have used with success.
posted by mythical anthropomorphic amphibian at 3:39 PM on October 17, 2015 [1 favorite]

Are they biogaia probiotics? My pediatrician recommended them and they seem to have helped reduce the fussies somewhat, but not 100% a solution nor could I rule out other factors (cutting dairy out of my diet).

We did not try gripe water but Ovol gas drops (active ingredient simethicone) totally worked for gas even though every doctor told us they wouldn't, ymmv.
posted by St. Peepsburg at 4:32 PM on October 17, 2015

Doctor also recommended, uh, anal stimulation to encourage farting (q-tip and petroleum jelly) if your baby has an especially tight sphincter but be fairly warned to put a towel or something in the way, cus man those babies sure can pop!
posted by St. Peepsburg at 4:36 PM on October 17, 2015

We tried this with our constipated breast fed baby. Absolutely no effect at all. He didn't get constipated until he started solid foods and he has no sensitivities or specific issues beyond "sometimes he gets a little constipated". After months of misery for all and wringing our hands trying to get him prune juice we tried Miralax and hallelujah it fixed things immediately. Kid is almost 2 and we are down to using a quarter dose once a week. I have no idea whether it's appropriate in a 4 mo and your obviously have to check with your pediatrician but it worked like a charm for our kid.
posted by Cygnet at 5:28 PM on October 17, 2015

My aunt's first baby pooped once a week (massive explosions that filled her diaper and spilled out everywhere and made a huge mess). But then she went back to work when the baby was six months and put her on partial formula - and suddenly the baby was having a little go every day.

Formula might not help your child, but it also wouldn't hurt to try.
posted by jb at 6:29 PM on October 17, 2015

Side note: my friend is renowned surgeon and she swears by the colic drops. Don't knock before you try (the probiotics). Assuming there are various strains instead of just one.
posted by Neekee at 9:01 PM on October 17, 2015

Our baby stopped pooping around four months, would go maybe once a week. Her situation was almost exactly what you describe. It was a miserable month, we tried everything. Lastly, we tried probiotics and she started pooping again, every other day! It made a huge difference for us. We bought Ther-biotic Infant Formula on Amazon. It needs to be refrigerated, btw.

Also, start using a thermometer in the bottom top stimulate pooping. When she couldn't poop, I helped her poo every 3-4 days. Otherwise, she was so uncomfortable, everything was terrible.
posted by mirabelle at 11:01 AM on October 18, 2015

Btw, our experience with the drops in the drugstore is that they weren't powerful enough. Ther-biotic is a powder with like, a billion per dose or something like that.
posted by mirabelle at 11:03 AM on October 18, 2015

To add some systematic review to the woo, Braegger et al. (2011)* performed one for pre/probiotic supplemented formula. This is, of course, different from your breastfeeding situation, but it might be useful. Most useful for you would be that some trials of probiotics using L. rhamnosus GG resulted in a statistical increase in stool frequency and softness, which was not seen in some other probiotics. A few prebiotic supplementation showed similar results, but one trial showed no difference.

Their biggest finding though was that randomized control trials of pre/probiotic supplmentation are few in number trials and in number of subjects. These are not exactly robust results, in other words, and the actual observed effects are modest and subject to A LOT of interpretation. Still, seems fairly clear that using probiotics wouldn't hurt anything but your pocketbook. It's not complete woo though.

*If you don't have access and want to read the whole... thrilling review, just send me a MeMail.
posted by Panjandrum at 1:07 PM on October 20, 2015