We have a clear winner for the best baby probiotics: Our bifido buddies. But when it comes to prenatal probiotics, we actually want to be thinking about vaginal health.
Why?
Because with a prenatal probiotic, we’re thinking ahead 🥰
Why the best probiotics for pregnancy…are probiotics for GBS
It’s like this: If you happen to get a positive GBS test during pregnancy, guess what’s most likely next?
⚠️💊 Prophylactic antibiotics during labor and delivery.
While most babies exposed to GBS during delivery show no signs of infection, antibiotics can protect the small percentage of babies who develop a severe infection after GBS exposure.
We all want a healthy baby, so protection is good.
But the side effects of antibiotic use are less than amazing for a baby’s immune development. For example, a study published in 2023 in Pediatric Research found that antibiotics during labor and delivery is associated with:
- Allergy (or IgE response) within a baby’s first year
- Newborn fungal infection and the number of fungal infections
Likewise, a study published in 2024 in the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology found a possible association between prophylactic antibiotic use – which impacts a baby’s gut health – and autoimmune disease during childhood.
Antibiotics take a toll on the microbiome in a baby’s gut. Which then impacts immune development.
Allergies…
Autoimmune disease…
These can be lifelong conditions.
When tinkering with assembly of the baby gut microbiome, we really want to be mindful. Because so many systems relate to the gut barrier.
And prophylactic antibiotic exposure for GBS may be avoidable.
…with the right prenatal probiotic.
💡 Instead of prophylactic antibiotic use, why not go a little further upstream? Let’s harmonize the vaginal ecosystem and make sure it’s dominated by healthy bacteria and probiotics for GBS.
Fortunately, this is easy to do.
A lot of prenatal probiotics get it wrong
During pregnancy, one major goal 👉 protect your baby’s immune development.
We can do this through:
- Nutrition (micronutrients and fatty acids, like vitamin D, vitamin A, zinc, or DHA)
- Environment (mom’s diet, getting rid of indoor pollution, pets, or the earthy fanfare of Mother Nature)
- Gut and vaginal health (the balance of bacteria and yeast)
- Avoiding unnecessary prescription medication (like antibiotics, when possible)
As we talked about earlier, if you pass your GBS test, you and your baby will not need prophylactic antibiotics during delivery. But if GBS is detected, then your doctor will most likely suggest that you receive antibiotics.
🌟 One of the best ways to pass your GBS test with flying colors is to make sure your vaginal microbiome is healthy, happy, and balanced.
And it takes specific species of probiotics to do this.
But here’s what’s weird…
If you read the label, you’ll notice that a lot of prenatal probiotics do not contain the probiotic species that you need for good vaginal health 🫠
Before we dive into probiotics for GBS and overall good vaginal health…
A lil’ refresher on GBS:
- GBS refers to group B streptococcus, a type of bacteria that sometimes lives in the gut and vaginal canal.
- Good vaginal health usually means dominance by Lactobacillus bacteria, often L. crispatus, if we’re being precise.
- For this reason, we don’t love vaginal GBS. But it can be particularly troublesome during delivery, if a baby is exposed to GBS and goes on to develop an infection.
What to look for: A good prenatal probiotic has this
At this point, I hope it’s clear that a good prenatal probiotic has species that are uniquely dialed into vaginal health.
🔑 Key species of probiotics that you definitely want to see in your prenatal probiotic:
- L. crispatus
- L. jensenii
- L. gasseri
- L. rhamnosus (recently renamed Lacticaseibacillus rhamnosus)
👉 And these species aren’t just good probiotics for GBS.
More broadly, they reduce vaginal pH, produce antimicrobial compounds for good vaginal ecology, and work with your immune system to potentially protect against:
- Bacterial infections, including GBS colonization
- Viral infections
- Yeast infection
- Cervical cancer associated with HPV
- Preterm birth
There are some biggies on that list.
And your vaginal ecosystem changes through every season of your life. This is in part related to fluctuations in hormones. So, whether you have PCOS, you’re pregnant, or you’re going through menopause…
You want to think about your vaginal microbiome 😉
What’s more, while L. rhamnosus may reduce colonization of GBS, it may also:
- Protect against postpartum depression and anxiety, via a lil’ thing called the gut-brain axis.
- Reduce the risk of baby eczema, when used pregnancy and afterwards.
🏆 My top 3 prenatal probiotics
Now that you know what species to look for in your prenatal probiotic, you’ll be able to discern what’s going to be most protective during pregnancy.
With that said…
Here are my top three prenatal probiotics for good vaginal health.
Note: You can combine these with other probiotics that target your gut health and/or baby gut health.
- Mama Natural Prenatal Probiotics: Babies do really well with bifidobacteria. And just because a baby is vaginally born and breastfed, this doesn’t mean that they will naturally have bifidobacteria. Part of this inheritance comes from mom and the gut-breast axis. This probiotic has species for vaginal health and baby’s immune development.
- Jarrow Jarro-Dophilus Prenatal Probiotics: Be sure to check the label on this one. There are multiple versions of Jarrow probiotics for women. And you want to be sure you’re getting the right formula. We’re looking for: L. crispatus, L. gasseri, L. plantarum, L. jensenii, and L. rhamnosus. Their prenatal formula works and has added B. infantis for baby wellness. You could also do their Fem-Dophilus Advanced.
- Culturelle Women’s 4 in 1 Protection: This one has the basics of exactly what we’re looking for to support vaginal health. This formula also contains two strains of L. rhamnosus, which may help to reduce the risk of baby eczema when taken during pregnancy and postpartum.
Jen Deering says
I use Floré probiotics because it was based on a stool sample I sent in. Would it be better to try one of these or stick to a personalized probiotic?
Megan Garcia says
Hey Jen!
Your vaginal and gut microbiome are going to have different profiles.
If you’re pregnant, I definitely think it’s worth adding in a probiotic with L. crispatus. As a bit of a safety net.
If you want to get really detailed insight and take targeted action, you could also do a vaginal test.
The vaginal microbiome is kinda like the baby gut, in that we really expect to see a certain profile (with specific bacteria) as “healthy.”
Hope this is helpful, really great question xxo!!