Group B Strep Natural Treatment

[hannahmae]

Hey there--this is my first time posting to this DDC forum. I am 37 1/2 weeks and just found I am GB positive. I have a planned HB and am considering not doing the antibiotics and instead using Hibiclens during labor. I am wondering if anyone is in the same boat and has adopted some sort of regimen for before labor--I have heard people up garlic, vit c, and grapefruit seed extract as an additional preventative. Any info and details on such supplements would be greatly appreciated.

[breanna31]

I am also GBS positive and my midwife suggested putting a clove of garlic into my vagina at night when I go to sleep. She said to peel it and then using a needle thread a piece of string through it so you can remove it in the morning. She said to do this every few nights. I am also taking vitamin c and going to start eating more yogurt. I will do the Hibiclens during labor too. I was GBS positive with my first pregnancy too and ended up having the antibiotics because I had a planned hospital birth. I remember being so stressed out about it and convinced my baby was going to die. I feel much more relaxed this time and have heard that the Hibiclens reduces the risk of transmission almost as well as the antibiotics. Don't quote me on that but I am pretty sure that's what I was told. Can you talk to your midwife about your options?

[holothuroidea]

I've never read a study that said Hibiclens is effective at all in reducing transmission. Everything I've seen says the opposite, that it has no measurable effect.

[breanna31]

http://www.mothering.com/discussions....php?t=1268572 I am not sure if this will work but there is a thread in the homebirth section about GBS. There are some good suggestions there. I have no idea about the Hibiclense, that is just what I have heard. That's why I said don't quote me on that.

[BumkinsMum]

I have been Group B pos for my last 3 births. All at home with no antibiotics. With one birth my water had broken 12 hours before active labor and there were still no signs of danger to the baby.

At first I did go through just about everything to try and get rid of it. Including Garlic,yogurt, Hibiclens, and even amoxacillin when the natural remedies didn't kick it. After developing yeast on top I said enough is enough and then started researching more about it. Knowing I didn't have serious symptoms of GBS harming me (I've never had a urinary track infection.) and that my previous two children (whom I didn't test with) never had any problems.

The scariest stuff now is on the RISKS of using antibiotics during labor and the stuff the babies get INSTEAD of GBS due to the overuse of antibiotics once again .

Here is a link that I found very interesting that has more details on what is more dangerous, GBS or us treating it.

http://www.waterbirth.net/wp-content...S-Article1.pdf


Best of luck with treating it/not treating it as I'm sure it will be what's best for your body . I hope sharing my loooong experience with GBS has helped some

[holothuroidea]

If you are going to treat the GBS, I'm fairly certain that the only way of significantly reducing your chances for transmission to the baby is to do IV antibiotics during labor (it's not like you're hooked to an IV line your entire labor- it's an intermittent injection every 4 hours and you can have a saline lock so you only need to be stuck once). At least, it's the only way that's been proven effective.

You can always choose not to treat it if you feel the risks/side-effects of the antibiotics are worse than the chance of infection. Or you may wait and see what the situation is. If, for example, your membranes rupture and you don't go into labor the risk/benefit scale may tip in favor of antibiotics.

All I'm saying is I don't completely discount the antibiotics as a viable treatment option.

[BirthIsAwesome]

There was one study done in Sweden that proved conclusively that Hibiclens douche in labour eliminated GBS as effectively as IV ABX. Click the link that PP posted above and then scroll down to my post for the link to a blogpost discussing the abstract (contains links to the study itself as well).