What Should you choose Prebiotics or Probiotics

There is a lot of confusion between prebiotics and probiotics.

Probiotics are a type of bacteria which live in the intestines/gut and are an important part of our digestive system. Probiotics help in digesting food, absorbing nutrients and enhancing immunity.

A baby's gut has good bacteria and bad bacteria. A healthy balance between good and bad bacteria can help the body fight off many diseases, infections and allergies. Bacteria imbalance, on the other hand, can affect the baby's health.

Probiotics are very important for newborn babies. At this stage, Baby's immune and digestive systems are still underdeveloped. 

Prebiotics are food for good bacteria/Probiotics in the intestines. Prebiotics help the good bacteria to thrive and to maintain the balance between the good and bad bacteria in the gut.

Prebiotics are important for a healthy gut and for developing immunity in babies. Mother's milk is an essential source of prebiotics for babies newborns 

Since a newborn baby's immunity and gut are still developing, they need good quantities of prebiotics to maintain healthy gut bacteria balance.

It's important that when you start introducing solid food to your baby's diet, that you introduce food items with prebiotics. This will ensure that the baby gets enough prebiotics to maintain a healthy gut bacteria balance. Foods like banana, berries, onion, garlic, raw oats, whole grains , barley are good sources of prebiotics.

Watch this as Pediatrician Dr. Jayashree Shivalkar talks about the difference between the two and why are these important. 

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