Chris Kresser: Okay, so the ideal in this situation, which unfortunately isn’t happening in that many hospitals yet, is that the baby would be swabbed with the mother’s vaginal fluid. So, the OB/GYN swabs the mother’s fluids and then wipes those on the baby, and that was recommended originally by Dr. Martin Blaser’s wife, whose name I am forgetting. Marty Blaser wrote the book called Missing Microbes that I think I’ve mentioned, a really fantastic resource for the importance of the microbiome and the importance of a vaginal birth for establishing the healthy infant microbiome. When a C-section occurs, the best way to pass on the mother’s microbiome to the baby, which is how it would normally occur, is through that swabbing method that I mentioned.
If that didn’t happen or isn’t possible, then the next best thing to do is just to make sure that you are breastfeeding if you can, which you are, which is great. Then you can consider an infant probiotic such as Klaire Ther-Biotic Infant. I don’t know that prebiotics are necessary because breast milk has galactooligosaccharides, or GOS, and that is one of the best prebiotics. If it is in breast milk, there is a reason that it’s there. It’s possible that the prebiotics could actually be contributing to the reflux. They can cause GI distress in some cases, and given that at that age the microbiome is not really developed, the prebiotics may be causing some issues. So, I would actually try removing those and just stick with breast milk and even possibly try removing the probiotics for a bit and see if that is contributing to the reflux. If it’s not, if it is only the prebiotics, you could add the probiotics back in.
In terms of excess milk, that’s not an area where I have a lot of expertise, but I’d recommend consulting with a lactation specialist. Groups such as La Leche League are really knowledgeable about this kind of thing, so I would definitely look into that.