Andrew is on 2 antibiotics now and he's starting to get a little diaper rash. we've never had it before. I got a probiotic.
Is that something that you need to use continuously (every day for a while) to really help? Is it fast acting? Should I use daily until it clears up? Or if it looks worse one day should I just give it to him that day (as needed)? It's fairly minor but I don't want it to bad.
We also do yogurt every day etc.
Thanks
Re: ? about Probiotic
Kathy, I've never experienced a probiotic helping with diaper rash directly, but we have had it keep antibiotic-associated diarrhea at bay, and therefore the diaper rash will get better. Antibiotics cause diarrhea b/c they kill off all the good gut bacteria in addition to whatever bad bacteria they're supposed to kill. Anyway, the second to last time Ben was on augmentin, we started out giving him one of my probiotics each day (they have 12 billion CFU's/pill, and have many different strains), and he still got diarrhea. So we added a second one in, and it went away. This last time he was on augmentin (his ear infections don't clear with amoxicillin), we gave him two/day from the start, and he never got diarrhea.
I'd give him probiotics every day until he's been off of the antibiotics for a few days, to give his gut flora time to re-establish. Also, make sure to give it at least two hours away from a dose of antibiotics, because if you give it with the antibiotics, it'll just kill all of the probiotics right away. For example, we gave Ben his augmentin at breakfast and supper, and he got probiotics at lunch and bedtime snack. We (or daycare) gave his lunch dose in applesauce and his bedtime dose in yogurt. We just opened the capsule and sprinkled it in.
If you have any more questions about probiotics, just send me a msg on facebook since I can access that at work.