GBS Screening - To Decline or Not To Decline - That is THE Question
GBS - What’s the big deal?! Should I be worried about having strep? Should I be worried about the standard treatment? Should we or shouldn’t we consent to Group B Strep Screening? Are there benefits? Risks? What exactly is being treated by a screening?
These are all great questions, and I’m so glad you are educating yourself so that you can make informed decisions about your health and your baby’s. So let’s first look at just a few facts:
If you have GBS in your gut, you likely won’t have symptoms - because it’s not an illness. GBS is a normal part of the gut biome for about 20% of us.
If 10,000 women are pregnant, about 2,000 of them will have normal GBS. About half of their babies (1,000) will inherit their mom’s GBS. Of those 1,000 colonized babies, less than 2 of them will develop a GBS infection (which most babies heal perfectly from). About 1 baby in 10,000 will die of a GBS infection.
Antibiotics (Penicillin) during labor greatly decreases this already-tiny risk.
Antibiotics are safe, aren’t they? And if a little antibiotic confers such a great benefit, why would anyone question the screening?
Antibiotic use has numerous well-documented risks for both you and your baby (download the full article to see the full list of risks). Do these risks outweigh the benefits?
Antibiotics quickly pass through the umbilical cord to the baby, greatly impacting his gut biome for the foreseeable future. Can this impact my baby’s future health? YES!
Are there ‘standard procedures’ in labor and delivery that increase my baby’s risk of GBS infection if I’m GBS positive? Yes! So avoiding these ‘standard procedures’ can greatly decrease your baby’s risk of GBS infection, even apart from antibiotics. If that is the case, which ‘standard procedures’ increase the risk?
There are proactive and natural approaches you can implement to decrease your risk of GBS. And if you are GBS positive, these will help build and support your baby’s biome and immune system. These include:
Skin-to-skin, early latching (colostrum), and breastfeeding decrease the risk of GBS infection in a newborn.
Avoid ‘standard procedure’ interventions before and during labor.
I have SO much more to tell you about GBS, antibiotics, probiotics, and screening!…
To read my full article on GBS screening, natural approaches, risks and benefits, to find the research references, to see a sample of a GBS Test insert or Penicillin insert, or to print it out, you can download a pdf version (free). Just go to the Ask Susie tab and enter the PDF Library to download your copy or click the button below.