Probiotics For Kids: When Can You Introduce Them And How Do They Work

Parents are always concerned about their kids; it becomes their responsibility to ensure that their child gets proper nourishment. Food plays a vital role in the development of a child. Therefore, it is very important for parents to provide the child with the right amount of food containing proper nutrients and vitamins. The overall priority of a parent is to keep the child healthy and fit.

What are Probiotics?

Probiotics are good organisms that are made up of live bacteria and yeast. These are also known as good bacteria or helpful bacteria because they are suitable for your body, especially your digestive system. Our body contains both good as well as harmful bacteria. They also play an essential role in supporting the child’s immune system. Sometimes due to infections, the amount of harmful bacteria increases in our body, which will disturb the balance in your system. Probiotics will help eradicate these bad bacteria and help get the system back to balance.

Sources of probiotics for babies :

Probiotic infant cereal

Cottage cheese

Yogurt

Fermented milk, soy, and vegetable products

Probiotic powder and drops for babies

How do probiotics work?

In newborns, probiotics usually function like this:

1. Increasing the population of healthy intestinal bacteria: Infection or antibiotic treatment can reduce the population of healthy intestinal bacteria. Probiotics aid in the re-establishment of beneficial microorganisms in the stomach.
2. Increasing the population of gut bacteria: Gastrointestinal infections and bacteria from food can increase the number of “bad” bacteria, which can overpower and reduce the population of good bacteria. Probiotics can help to manage and reduce the amount of infection-causing microorganisms.
3. Producing “food” for other good bacteria: Some bacteria types and strains can digest some of the components of a meal and release simpler components for other good bacteria to use.
4. Lower risk of infection: Taking probiotics regularly reduces the risk of recurrent gut infections.
5. Vitamin production and immune function improvement: Intestinal bacteria can produce a variety of vitamins for the body as well as improve intestinal immunity. Probiotics play an indirect effect on vitamin production and immunity by helping to promote the population of these good bacteria.

When can you introduce probiotics to your child?

Probiotics can be introduced to kids at an early stage of their life as probiotics have no harmful effects on children.  However, Probiotics are not recommended for newborns as they only consume breast milk. In addition, they do not necessarily need it as their intestines are sterile, which means they have no bacteria in the gastrointestinal tract. Once they grow up a little old, around 6-12 months, children can be introduced to probiotics as their food starts containing solid items, and they are exposed to a large variety of food. This increases the child’s risk of getting easily infected and increases the amount of bad bacteria in the body.

Let’s look at some food items that can be introduced to babies depending on their age.

Yogurt – 12-month.

Around the age of nine months, you can begin introducing it.

soy milk – 12 months

Cottage Cheese – 12 months

• Probiotic drops and powder should only be given if it is recommended by a pediatrician.

However, probiotics should not be given to infants under the age of six months without first consulting a doctor.

It’s always good to know what’s good for your child and take the necessary action required to grow and survive.

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