How much probiotics do you take?

[swissmiss2584]

How much probiotics do you take while pregnant?

I have a terrible digestive tract and have to take Critical Care Probiotics. Each capsule is 50 billion and I took 4 a day before pregnancy. Does anyone know if you can have too much probiotics while pregnant?

[phathui5]

I think it would be hard to overdo it on probiotics. I take one capsule a day, but I don't need more than that.

[BabySmurf]

I think that continuing to take what you have been taking would be perfectly fine.  I think the "danger" with probiotics and pregnancy is beginning a new regiment or significantly increasing your dose, which could cause die off and toxins to move into your blood stream.  I think taking probiotics during pregnancy is really good!

[bobcat]

I just wanted to add one thing, and it's on my mind because I replied to another post about a supplement that has "enteric coating."

I decided NOT to take any probiotics with enteric coating, which is common in probiotics nowadays (look in the ingredients, usually the last ingredient, or they even brag about it in the description).....because enteric coating, from what I read online, is loaded with phthalates, which is bad for baby. I am surprised I never see it talked about here....and surprised that when I read things by naturopaths, they never warn of that.

The enteric coating is what enables the probiotic to survive the stomach acid (so look for "survives stomach acid"). Theoretically, that should be a good thing, but not if your baby is exposed to phthalates. I figure I'll take my chances with no enteric coating, on hoping some of it survives stomach acid, and nature will do its thing.

For what it's worth, I started taking the Now brand Probiotic-10 25 billion I got from iherb.com...from what I could tell, no enteric coating. Well, I had a big die-off reaction from that! So I figure it's still gotta be good. I also picked up Sedona Labs i-Flora Women. I was actually a little worried about the die off because I"m pregnant, so now I'm reducing my dose drastically, opening the capsule and dumping most out of all brands, but really being careful with the Now. Good luck!

Also, just wanted to add that the reason I found out about this is that I did some really alternative type test awhile ago, where they check your urine for phthalates you are excreting, and mine was off the charts high. So I did some research on sources of phthalates and found out about this, and I do believe some of my supps at the time must have had that coating.

[BabySmurf]

Originally Posted by bobcat 

I just wanted to add one thing, and it's on my mind because I replied to another post about a supplement that has "enteric coating."

I decided NOT to take any probiotics with enteric coating, which is common in probiotics nowadays (look in the ingredients, usually the last ingredient, or they even brag about it in the description).....because enteric coating, from what I read online, is loaded with phthalates, which is bad for baby. I am surprised I never see it talked about here....and surprised that when I read things by naturopaths, they never warn of that.

The enteric coating is what enables the probiotic to survive the stomach acid (so look for "survives stomach acid"). Theoretically, that should be a good thing, but not if your baby is exposed to phthalates. I figure I'll take my chances with no enteric coating, on hoping some of it survives stomach acid, and nature will do its thing.

For what it's worth, I started taking the Now brand Probiotic-10 25 billion I got from iherb.com...from what I could tell, no enteric coating. Well, I had a big die-off reaction from that! So I figure it's still gotta be good. I also picked up Sedona Labs i-Flora Women. I was actually a little worried about the die off because I"m pregnant, so now I'm reducing my dose drastically, opening the capsule and dumping most out of all brands, but really being careful with the Now. Good luck!

Also, just wanted to add that the reason I found out about this is that I did some really alternative type test awhile ago, where they check your urine for phthalates you are excreting, and mine was off the charts high. So I did some research on sources of phthalates and found out about this, and I do believe some of my supps at the time must have had that coating.

Interesting! That makes a lot of sense.  Really the best way to get probiotics is to eat cultured foods, I just take probiotics here and there as a backup and for consistency...I will definitely check the ingredients on mine.