When to give probiotics?

[Guest Motherbear]

My son, 11 has never had probiotics and has been on and off antibiotics for the last 4-5 years. It wasn't until last March that he was diagnosed with Pandas, and not until recently that the doctors being proactive in terms of trying to put a stop to the chronic strep. In order to manage his OCD, which gets worse around bedtime (it's like a 3 hour long routine that is exhausting!) he takes Benedryl for congestion and to help him sleep (we tried Melatonin, but that gave him headaches), he eats yogurt, we wait 20 mins., then give him his Augmentin. At what point do we give him the probiotic that was suggested to him today by the doc? His stomach is wrecked. He always complains of a stomach ache, he has acid reflux from anxiety, so we usually end up giving him Tums somewhere in there, too. Any one have advice on when is best to give the probiotic? Sorry I am rambling, I feel like I haven't slept in 2 weeks!

[jojos_mom]

My DS also complained of a stomachache when he first started taking Augmentin 6 weeks ago. He takes 600 mg (2 x day).

Dr. B advised us to give him the probiotic at least 2 hours after he takes the antibiotic. His reasoning was that the antibiotic was also destroying the good bacteria from the probiotic. So, we give him Augmentin in the am and pm, and when he gets home from school, we give him the probiotic. This system seems to be working the best. We have had no more stomach complaints!

[peglem]

My son, 11 has never had probiotics and has been on and off antibiotics for the last 4-5 years. It wasn't until last March that he was diagnosed with Pandas, and not until recently that the doctors being proactive in terms of trying to put a stop to the chronic strep. In order to manage his OCD, which gets worse around bedtime (it's like a 3 hour long routine that is exhausting!) he takes Benedryl for congestion and to help him sleep (we tried Melatonin, but that gave him headaches), he eats yogurt, we wait 20 mins., then give him his Augmentin. At what point do we give him the probiotic that was suggested to him today by the doc? His stomach is wrecked. He always complains of a stomach ache, he has acid reflux from anxiety, so we usually end up giving him Tums somewhere in there, too. Any one have advice on when is best to give the probiotic? Sorry I am rambling, I feel like I haven't slept in 2 weeks!

If your probiotic is bacterial (like lactobacillus), give at least 2 hours after abx. The idea is to repopulate the gut w/ beneficial bacteria after the abx has wiped it out and been absorbed. But there is a beneficial yeast probiotic, S. Boulardii, that you can give at the same time as the abx, since abx does not kill yeast.

[Missmom]

Same here, I give augmentin in the morning and at night and give culturelle after school. My son does not like yogurt, so he prefers the pill. You have to be careful of some strains of probiotic that contain a type of strep bacteria. For some of the children it is fine, but for others it may not be beneficial. It is in most yogurts. It is called strep thermopollis or s.thermopollis. That is reason enough for us to stay away from it. Just don't want to risk any adverse effects at this point.

[Guest Motherbear]

Thank you for the replies! He is taking Culturelle kids chewables.

[LNN]

I would consider an alternative to TUMS - which contains calcium carbonate and can interfere with the absorption of certain antibiotics. Many parents here use Pepcid or Prevacid for GERD.

 

In addition to striving for a 2 hour gap between antibiotics and probiotics, try to take the probiotics away from food. Stomach acids are literally murder on the probiotics and only a small percentage will survive the stomach and make it into the digestive tract. Taking with food only increases the amount of stomach acid. So we take evening antibiotics at dinnertime and probiotics at bedtime, when the stomach is going to be calm for a long period of time.

[popcorn]

Same issue here. I go to bed around midnight and give my kids probiotics then. I mix the probiotic powder in a cup of water, make the sleeping kiddos sit up in bed and drink it. It's kinda cute, and they always have sweet things they say to me when they're half-asleep.

[jimTheBassPlayer]

Florastor is also a yeast probiotic, if you want to try that route.

 

And yes most yogurt has Strep Thermophilus so you have to watch for that.

 

You can make your own yogurt if you like ... there are some good yogurt makers out there that make it pretty easy. Then you can use your own starter that you know is strep free. Some of the starters at the link below have Strep, some do not.

 

https://www.culturesforhealth.com/choosing-a-yogurt-starter-culture

 

Also, you can ferment ( culture ) vegetables as well .. ( think saurkraut )

 

Here's a Barringer article on that.

 

http://nutritionaltherapy.com/taking-the-mystery-out-of-culturing-your-own-superfoods-by-caroline-barringer-ntp-chfs-fes/

 

Or you can buy her products here

 

http://www.immunitrition.com/products.php

 

However it is not clear whether her starter contains strep or not, so I would be cautious. This would be a good route for probiotics for people that are also trying to avoid dairy.

 

Correction, found her starter ingredients ... no strep, so that's good news.

 

http://www.culturedvegetables.net/Vegetable-Culture-Starter-011.htm?categoryId=19

 

-Jim

Edited October 17, 2012 by jimTheBassPlayer

[DeterminedMomVA]

We give Florastor with abx in the morning. As others said, it's a yeast-based probiotic that can be taken at the same time as abx. DS then takes a culturelle when he gets home from school (about 3:00 ish), then another Augmentin at dinnertime.