probiotics, yogurt, and loose stools

[momofmine]

Hi folks,
I have a question about probiotics and I thought I would post it here. Can probiotics make your stool looser?

When DS1 was a toddler, he and I both were fanatically on the SCD for three years (he was nursing). Since then, we have added things back into our diet, but remain probably about 75% SCD, though I've added in things like sprouted grain bread. He's now almost 9. DS2 came along during all of this, but he did not have the intestinal issues DS1 had. UNTIL he had strep throat and I begrudgingly gave him abx, which I wish now I had not done. I tried giving him probiotics during the abx, but it almost seemed like the probiotics made him have looser stool. Since then, he has had mostly looser stools, and I've been giving him probiotics on and off, trying a few different kinds. I haven't been very scientific about it, so I'm really not sure, but it seems like the probiotics make it worse. Is this possible? For my DS1, they always make his stool firmer. I am so confused and don'tknow what to do. I feel like I know everything int he world about intestinal bacteria! I steeped myself in it when we were ont eh SCD for 3 years, but right now I don't know what to do, and I am kicking myself for not trusting myself and giving him the abx.

Thanks for listening, and any advice would be greatly apreciated.

[quietserena]

Several people here have noticed that for kids with chronic constipation probiotics seem to really help.

I watch a little 11 month old boy who started to get seriously constipated about the time his gut started to close. He was only going once a week and it hurt him, poor kid. I recommended to his mom that she start giving him an infant probiotic (different strains than adult ones) and after having a few weeks of really loose stools he seems to have normalized at pooping every other day.

So, it could be that while the intestinal flora changes, the stools would be loose and then normalize? I can't really tell for sure either way. Have you kept up the probiotics for a while to see if it gets better?

[deditus]

Serena,
What kind of probiotics were they?