We all know the importance of our gut in digestion, immunity, and health. But this isn’t just for adults! Probiotic supplements are a safe way to optimize gut health. But how can you figure out the best probiotic for your child?

Choosing the best probiotic for kids is a unique and personalized process. While probiotics are safe and effective, focusing on choosing the right probiotic will give the best results, help your child to feel their best, and set them up for a lifetime of great gut health and overall wellness!

What are Probiotics?

Probiotics are live bacteria that can live in your gut and have numerous health benefits. Kids can get probiotics from eating a wide variety of whole foods. But let's face it, kids usually aren't lovers of veggies and salads!

Even if they are, they may not have the right balance of good vs harmful bugs in their gut due to environmental toxins, antibiotics, processed and sugary foods, and even OVER sanitization (hello, 2020-2022)!

BUT, here’s the great news: there are plenty of safe and effective probiotics that you can supplement into your child’s diet! 

The Best Benefits of Probiotics for Kids

According to scientific studies, probiotics can be effective in treating eczema, preventing allergies, and improving resistance to infections like strep throat! 

This is AMAZING! It’s awful to see your baby dealing with itchy, dry skin or having to go on antibiotics every other month for respiratory or ear infections. NOT FUN!

Probiotics start working in your child’s belly, helping with digestive issues. This means a decrease in diarrhea or constipation, increase in regularity and an increase in nutrient absorption so they are getting the MOST of of their diet.

While the probiotics add healthy bacteria to the gut, the immune cells in the gut are getting stronger and being exposed to new types of good bacteria!

This helps desensitize kids to non-dangerous things that may otherwise be recognized as allergens AND strengthens the immune system. This helps prevent allergies, keeps the kiddos from getting sick, and helps them recover from being sick faster!

Another benefit? Focusing on gut health for your child may actually help with brain development and function!

The relationship between children’s gut health and the central nervous system is the gut-brain connection. While this connection isn’t limited to kids, the impact on kids is HUGE!!

Behavioral disorders, like ADHD, appear worse when a child doesn’t have enough good bacteria in their gut.

Supplementing probiotics for your child increases their good bacteria, which promotes healthy development and protects the brain and central nervous system.

Finding the Best Probiotic for your Child

Finding a probiotic that is suited exactly to your child’s specific needs is SUPER important and will help get them feeling their best.  

ALWAYS consult a professional when introducing any supplement into your child’s routine. Contacting a functional medicine practitioner is a great resource to get reliable, personalized advice. 

A huge factor in choosing the best probiotic for your child is their diet and health history. Having this information to refer to will help to figure out the best plan of action!

GutPersonal Offers Personalized Probiotics, Perfect for Kids!

Check out The Go-To probiotic by GutPersonal for an amazing kids probiotic. Not only does the Go-To help maintain a healthy balance of good and bad bacteria in the gut, it also supports nutrient absorption!!

If you feel like your child also needs extra immune support or coming off of antibiotics, The Booster increases the good and reduces bad gut bacteria, AND provides extra support for the immune system.

More Ways to Optimize your Child’s Gut Health

While there isn’t really a substitute with the same benefits of probiotics, there are tons of other ways to prioritize your child’s gut health!

LIMIT SUGAR

To start, excessive intake of sugar and processed foods can cause an imbalance in gut bacteria. Too much sugar actually starves good gut bacteria and feeds the bad guys! Limit added sugars and offer mostly whole foods to help friendly gut bacteria flourish!

FIBER FROM WHOLE FOODS

Fiber containing foods are AMAZING for gut health! Fruits and vegetables are great sources of fiber AND they often have a high water content. Staying hydrated by drinking enough water keeps your digestive system happy and the combination of fiber and water helps keep a regular pooping schedule!

AVOID ANTIBIOTICS

A HUGE contributor to poor gut health is antibiotic use. Antibiotics are great for clearing out harmful bacteria, but aren’t able to tell the difference between friend and foe. This is why antibiotics use often leads to diarrhea.

Antibiotics should never be used for viruses (like common colds, the flu, etc) and are only necessary for some infections.

GET MOVING!

Increasing physical activity is also great for gut health. Staying active helps keep the blood flowing all throughout our body. Increased blood flow to the digestive tract helps with smooth digestion!

PROBIOTIC RICH FOODS

Many yogurts that kids prefer also have high sugar content, which can increase BAD bacteria in the gut. Other food sources of probiotics include sauerkraut, kimchi, and sourdough bread. While these foods are delicious, they aren’t super common in most kids' diets.

At the end of the day, the best advice for optimizing your child’s gut health is to teach them to listen to their bodies! Stomach pain, bloating, diarrhea, constipation, and are all symptoms of a not-so-happy gut and might mean it’s time to take action!

Rather than trying to convince kids to eat great sources of probiotics and still falling short, finding an amazing probiotic supplement offers the amazing benefits without the stress!!

Start the Best Probiotic for your Child TODAY!!

Striving for a healthy and happy gut for your child is an amazing goal. Get started by adding probiotics into their diet! GutPersonal offers the BEST probiotics for kids and adults alike! 

The best way to optimize gut health is with a combination of healthy habits! Adding a probiotic is a great way to get a leg up on gut health, but a balanced diet, lots of water, getting in daily movement, and avoiding unnecessary antibiotic use will help maintain health!

If personalized, safe, science-backed, and kid-friendly supplements sound interesting to you, head over to GutPersonal now!! Check out the BEST probiotics (The Go-To Jr. and The Booster are our personal faves for kids) and get started on some family-friendly supplements!