What are the benefits of Culturelle? My honest experience.

My son is 4 years old and I wish I could count the number of colds and infections he brought home from daycare/preschool. I lost count after a few dozen colds. I work in an office with other parents so I know I am not alone.

My son didn’t start daycare until he was nearly 2 years old. I was fortunate enough that my mom was able to watch him during the days for me, while my husband and I went to work. When the time came for him to start daycare we took a lot of time to decide on one. Finally, we settled on a place that was clean, had a lot of room, had good lighting and used green methods to sanitize.

But…..as clean as it looked

The very first day we set foot in the building both of us came down with a bad cold. We went just for 2 hours for my son to get acquainted with the place. Oh well, I thought. That was just the beginning of a very miserable year. I might add that this was the month of September in a state that has a moderate winter, so it’s probably not the best month to start attending daycare.

The week my son started he came down with another cold, and then another and another. I got sick, my husband got sick and my daughter got sick. This continued until around February or so the next year. By this, we figured he was averaging 2 colds per week.

The agony of having a kid in daycare

It was a miserable period in our life. Colds turned into ear infections. My son also had a few mild cases of pink eye. We were tired and exhausted. We stayed up night after night with a toddler that wasn’t able to sleep due to coughing and all the misery that comes with a cold. I wanted to give up, I wanted to pull him out of daycare.

Mothers and fathers at work who has been through it advised me to stay strong, and that it will get better. None of it made sense. My son was a fruit head. He ate a lot of fruit. He had a healthy diet. I couldn’t understand why he was still getting sick so often.

My introduction to Culturelle

On top of this, my son was battling what I thought was constipation. That’s when I was introduced to Culturelle, a probiotic with a kid line. There are a couple of types of Culturelle for kids. There is a powder that you can mix in a drink or some berry flavored Chewables. We opted for the latter. I bought Culturelle with the idea that it would help him with his constipation. When it didn’t, I sort of gave him sporadically. What I later found out was that he didn’t have constipation, but was withholding his bowel movements due to fear.

As the weather got warmer he got fewer and fewer colds. However, as the next fall arrived, he started getting sick again. The illnesses were nowhere as often as the previous year, but he still got far too many colds. I started him on Culturelle again.

We missed a few doses….

We gave my son the Culturelle religiously and thought nothing of it. Over time we went through very long stretches without any illnesses at all. The days of constant illnesses seemed to have been behind us. One week, during the summer of 2018, for some reason he missed a day of Culturelle and then another day and then another. I would say he went at least a week without it. I guess I got so complacent with his good health, I didn’t have too much motivation to continue giving him anything.

But then….

One day after missing several doses of the Culturelle I got him from daycare where I was told he had a fever. We went home and yes, he had a fever and was not himself. I called his pediatrician who gave me the usual warning signs to look out for before getting him medical care. The next day he woke up and he complained of a sore throat. I figured he had a cold or worse – the flu

We stayed home and he complained constantly that his throat hurts. I explained to him that he has caught a cold and the sore throat will go away soon. The next day, he complained even more. I started worrying about strep throat. A trip to the doctor, however, came back with a diagnosis of hand foot and mouth disease.

Let me hope that if any of you have young kids or will have young kids someday, that your kids never contract this virus. It’s not a serious virus so that’s the good news. However, it can cause painful sores in the mouth which means this can lead to hunger, dehydration, and irritability. After a week of hell, it was finally gone.

But, I couldn’t help but wonder if there is a correlation between my son stopping the Culturelle and him catching the virus. I will never be able to know for sure, but I can say this. Since last June we had not missed one day of the Culturelle. He gets it every night like clockwork.

Healthy as ever

As I write this today on February 28th, 2019 it’s been 9 whole months and he has had no illnesses. On Christmas day he appeared to catch a cold because he had his usual coughing fit, which is his usual indicator that there is a cold to come. However, his body must have fought it off because he never got a full cold at all.

This means that he has gone through the entire fall season and almost the entire winter season, where he goes to what I would like to call the germ factory every day and he still has not gotten sick. No runny nose, no diarrhea, no pink eye, no colds nothing. As I write this, I am recovering from a cold myself and he never caught it from me.

I will never know for sure if the Culturelle is the answer to his splendid health but the way it is looking right now it seems to contribute to it. I have told everyone with young kids about this.

What’s the magic in Culturelle ?

Culture contains a strain of good bacteria called Lactobacillus rhamnosus GG. This probiotic exists naturally in the gut, but everyday life, such as antibiotic use can destroy it. It is one of the most widely studied probiotics for use in children. It is stated to help with immunity since most of our immunity comes from our gut.

Probiotics are used to restore normal gut flora – billions of helpful bacteria that help us to be well.

I don’t usually care so much about a manufacturer’s claim. However, since I believe this is contributing to my son’s overall health and well being, I will recommend it.

Why I like Culturelle

Culturelle contains only natural flavors and it gets its colors from beet. It is also gluten-free, sugar-free and dairy-free. It does contain other ingredients, but my research for each individual ingredient isn’t alarming. Culturelle is also well researched and many of its gastrointestinal benefits have been proven in studies.

I couldn’t find anything concrete about its prevention of sickness in general and even probiotics as a whole is a field that is evolving. I can only attest to my experience. My son doesn’t even know why he is taking it so he cannot be suffering from a placebo effect. Also, when he gets sick its very visual for a third party to observe.

When it comes to kids, I will end by saying please mention it to the child’s doctor. Culturelle is highly recommended by doctors so it is very likely you will get the green light.

You can check the price for kids Culturelle here, and yes they have the adult version too. See the price for it here.

After sharing this experience let me go ‘knock on wood’ now.

Pins for Pinterest

•