Your gut microbiome, the trillions of bacteria that live in your gut, can affect the outcome of your pregnancy and even your baby’s lifelong health.
New research has discovered that mom’s gut bacteria plays a key role in three major pregnancy risks:
- Strep B infection
- Preeclampsia
- Preterm birth
Scientists are designing and conducting studies right now to learn how effectively rebalancing the mom’s microbiome can help avoid bad outcomes… benefit the baby’s gut microbiome … and improve the baby’s immune system and resistance to infection once they’re born.
This is a relatively new research area, but the results clearly show…
A healthy maternal gut microbiome helps ensure a healthy delivery and a healthy baby. And the best way to achieve that is with targeted probiotics.
Quick Answer: A mother’s gut microbiome plays an important role in pregnancy and in her baby’s early development. The gut shifts naturally during pregnancy to support the growing baby, and keeping beneficial probiotics outnumbering pathogens helps maintain that healthy balance. Research connects the maternal microbiome to areas like Strep B balance, blood pressure and inflammation, and the timing of birth, and it shapes the baby’s own developing microbiome and immune system. You can support a balanced gut during pregnancy with a spore-based probiotic that reaches the gut alive. This describes how a healthy microbiome supports the body and is not a treatment for any condition; always talk with your healthcare provider before starting a supplement in pregnancy.
How Does Gut Balance Support Your Pregnancy?
Keeping Your Gut in Healthy Balance Protects your Baby
Your gut microbiome changes naturally during pregnancy to help your body nourish your baby. Keeping that microbiome in healthy balance, with beneficial probiotics outnumbering pathogens, supports both you and your baby through these changes.
Your gut microbiome goes through some extreme changes during pregnancy, and it’s supposed to. Without these changes, your body wouldn’t be able to accept, nourish, and nurture your baby.
But some disruptions can bring on a condition called dysbiosis, where bad bacteria (pathogens) outnumber beneficial bacteria (probiotics). And dysbiosis may increase your risk of problems during pregnancy.
Luckily, you can fix dysbiosis by rebalancing your gut microbiome with probiotics. Researchers believe that taking probiotics during pregnancy may reduce the risk of “adverse outcomes” for you and your baby.
How Is the Gut Microbiome Related to Strep B?
Probiotics Take Down Strep B
Strep B (Group B Streptococcus) is common and usually harmless, but it can overgrow during pregnancy. A balanced gut microbiome helps shield against pathogen overgrowth, which is why researchers are studying its role in Strep B balance.
Virtually everyone has some Strep B (also known as Group B Streptococcus or GBS) bacteria in their system from time to time – and it usually doesn’t do any damage.
But problems can arise when pregnant women have an overgrowth of these bacteria, which can affect their baby’s health at birth. Strep B can cause serious infections in newborns and disrupt their gut microbiomes throughout infancy… and possibly for life.
Most pregnant women get tested for Strep B. If they test positive, they’re usually given IV antibiotics during delivery… but that may not be the best option for your baby’s lifetime health.
New research shows that taking probiotics during pregnancy can keep Strep B under control. That’s because probiotics can help shield the gut microbiome against pathogen overgrowth.
In one clinical trial, researchers gave probiotics to pregnant women with Strep B… and by the end of the trial, 68% of those women tested negative for the infection.
How Is the Gut Microbiome Linked to Preeclampsia?
Probiotics Protect Against Preeclampsia
Research has linked preeclampsia, an inflammatory condition involving high blood pressure, with gut dysbiosis, where beneficial bacteria are depleted and pathogens overgrow. Supporting a balanced maternal gut microbiome is an active area of study in this context.
Preeclampsia, an inflammatory condition, can cause major complications for pregnant women and their babies. When it strikes, the mother can develop dangerously high blood pressure and severe swelling, posing a huge risk to the pregnancy.
New research links preeclampsia directly to gut dysbiosis
Pregnant women with preeclampsia had severely imbalanced gut bacteria. Pathogenic bacteria populations were sky high. Beneficial gut bacteria – including special strains like Akkermansia - necessary for good health – were severely depleted.
Rebalancing the mother’s gut microbiome – especially in late pregnancy – helps reduce the risk of severe preeclampsia by 20%.
How Is the Gut Microbiome Connected to Preterm Birth?
Probiotics May Prevent Preterm Birth
Preterm birth has many causes, with inflammation and vaginal dysbiosis among the most common, and both can stem from an unbalanced gut microbiome. Researchers are studying how supporting gut balance may relate to these risk factors.
A variety of factors can cause pre-term birth, but the most common causes include high levels of inflammation and vaginal dysbiosis (an overabundance of bad bacteria in the vaginal canal). Both of those issues can stem from an unbalanced gut microbiome, making it the perfect treatment target to help both mother and baby.
Women with vaginal dysbiosis face double the risk of preterm birth. Researchers have just begun to study how well probiotics can reduce this risk, so we’re still learning more every day. What we do know so far:
- Standard treatments to delay preterm birth can cause heart problems in mother and baby, with a maximum benefit of a 72-hour delay
- Probiotics can restore healthy balance to the microbiome
- Probiotics reduce inflammation and inflammatory compounds
- Probiotics may help reduce the risk of preterm birth
Scientists are calling for more research on this critical subject, with new studies coming soon. In the meantime, years of research (and common sense) tell us that probiotics help control vaginal dysbiosis and reduce inflammation all over the body.
How Does Your Gut Microbiome Give Your Baby a Healthier Start?
Giving Your Baby a Healthier Start
Your baby develops its own gut microbiome using bacteria supplied by you. A balanced maternal microbiome helps support the baby’s developing microbiome and immune system, which can shape their early health.
The baby growing inside you has their own gut microbiome, with bacteria supplied by you.
Your baby’s gut microbiome determines how fast they’ll grow and how well they’ll be able to withstand infections once they’re born. That’s especially critical for pre-term babies.
Stimulating the mom’s gut microbiome can benefit the baby’s immune system. Starting out with a healthier gut microbiome can lead to a lifetime of better health outcomes, such as lower risk of allergies and autoimmune conditions.
Frequently Asked Questions About Gut Health in Pregnancy
Why does the gut microbiome matter during pregnancy?
The gut microbiome shifts naturally during pregnancy to help the body nourish and support the growing baby. Keeping beneficial probiotics outnumbering pathogens helps maintain that healthy balance for both mother and baby.
What is dysbiosis in pregnancy?
Dysbiosis is an imbalance where harmful pathogens outnumber beneficial probiotics in the gut. Research has associated dysbiosis with a higher risk of pregnancy complications, which is why supporting gut balance is a focus of ongoing study.
How does my gut affect my baby’s microbiome?
A baby develops its own gut microbiome using bacteria supplied by the mother during pregnancy and birth. A balanced maternal microbiome helps give the baby’s developing microbiome and immune system a healthier start.
Can I take probiotics during pregnancy?
Many people use probiotics to support a balanced gut microbiome during pregnancy, but you should always talk with your healthcare provider before adding any supplement while pregnant.
What kind of probiotic reaches the gut alive?
Spore-based Bacillus probiotics are protected by a natural shell that helps them survive stomach acid and reach the gut intact, where they support a diverse, balanced microbiome.
Give Your Baby the Gift of a Healthy Gut Microbiome
Keeping your gut microbiome in healthy balance with Just Thrive spore probiotics provides a healthier start for your baby.
The four clinically tested strains of spore probiotics in Just Thrive quickly crowd out pathogenic bacteria and allow beneficial bacteria to flourish for a well-balanced gut microbiome.
Support your gut microbiome – and your baby’s – by adding Just Thrive Probiotic to your routine today.
