We now know from research that probiotics can do wonders for pregnancy and breastfeeding through improving pregnancy outcomes, breastfeeding success, and even passing on those good microbes to your little one.

The science of using probiotics to support pregnancy and breastfeeding is a relatively recent and exciting area of research. It was only a decade or so ago that we thought breastmilk was sterile! Imagine that!

Researchers first discovered that breastmilk has its own microbiome around 20 years ago, and we’ve learned so much through clinical research and clinical practice since that time.. 

We now know that it's super important for improving pregnancy outcomes, breastfeeding success, and even passing on those good microbes to your little one. 

Mums are like the superheroes of the microbiome world. During pregnancy, your microbiome can have a big impact on your pregnancy and baby in utero. But once a baby arrives, the first major colonising event happens during labour and birth. After that, the breastfeeding / feeding method has the biggest influence over your baby's developing microbiome. And check this out - breastmilk is designed to be the perfect food for your little one, packed with everything they need including prebiotics (food for the good bacteria) and probiotics (the actual live good bacteria). How cool is that!

Here's some important facts to know - the live bugs in mums and babies' gut, as well as in breastmilk, can be impacted by a lot of common factors. This means that things like antibiotics, diet, and lifestyle choices can all have an effect on the good bacteria in our bodies. It's important to be mindful of these factors and do what we can to support our microbiome health:-

• Poor diet – low fibre, high sugar, and processed carbs, a fairly standard Australian diet
• Stress - including birth trauma 
• Antibiotics – over 50% mums and bubs require antibiotics in modern birthing practices and postpartum. Although necessary to fight and prevent infection, antibiotics also reduce levels of good bacteria and disrupt the microbiome .
• Other medications - acid inhibitors and pain medications 
• Any birth intervention 
• Compromised gut microbiome - previous to pregnancy / breastfeeding

We can't always rely on our gut and breastmilk microbiome to be optimal. It's because these factors are quite common and can be impacted by various things. That's why the strain of probiotic found in Qiara (L.Fermentum CECT5716) is really special. It's able to not just work in the gut, but also transfer to breastmilk, breast tissue, and onto the baby via breastmilk. That way, it can work its magic in all three places!

So it’s not really a question of “why would I take Qiara” but more “Why wouldn’t I”!!