Begin Health | For baby + kids' microbiome health https://xitter.cf/t.co/jqCw0nErpo ๐ถ๐ปโค๏ธ๐ฉ gut health is #kidshealth
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Begin Health retweeted
Yesterday, @WSJ featured @GetTinyHealth in a piece on the rise of baby microbiome testing, alongside our friends @BeginHealth and @MadelineZephyr.
The headline: โ๐๐ฎ๐ฏ๐ถ๐ฒ๐โ ๐๐๐ ๐๐ฒ๐ฎ๐น๐๐ต ๐๐ ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐ก๐ฒ๐ ๐ข๐ฏ๐๐ฒ๐๐๐ถ๐ผ๐ป ๐ณ๐ผ๐ฟ ๐ฃ๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐ป๐๐ โ ๐ฎ๐ป๐ฑ ๐ฆ๐๐ฎ๐ฟ๐๐๐ฝ๐.โ
Yes, we absolutely are obsessed โ as founders building in this space and as parents thinking deeply about the world our children are growing up in.
Because nearly 1 in 2 children in the U.S. now has a chronic condition, per the CDC.
Somehow, this has been framed as the status quo. Itโs insane.
We cannot accept this.
Eczema.
Food allergies.
Asthma.
Autoimmune disease.
If the immune system is trained in the first 1,000 days of life โ and the microbiome plays a central role in that training โ why wouldnโt we prioritize getting that foundation right?
The article opens with Brittany and her son Leo, who was struggling with constipation, fussiness, and poor weight gain early on. Like many parents, she wasnโt looking for a trend. She was looking for answers.
As part of their Tiny Health journey, recommendations included outdoor play, pet exposure, and increasing microbial diversity.
Thatโs not trend-driven advice.
Itโs grounded in decades of immunology research. In the first year of life, babies exposed to farms, animals, and pets develop higher levels of beneficial microbes like ๐๐ช๐ง๐ช๐ฅ๐ฐ๐ฃ๐ข๐ค๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ๐ช๐ถ๐ฎ and ๐๐ฌ๐ฌ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฎ๐ข๐ฏ๐ด๐ช๐ข โ along with lower rates of allergic disease.
Rigor matters in emerging science.
At Tiny Health, we ground our recommendations in evidence-based interventions supported by decades of microbiome research. Last fall, we published a randomized controlled trial showing these interventions can reduce the odds of developing atopic conditions by ๐ด๐ฏ%. (Study linked in the comments.)
And what we hear from families isnโt hype โ itโs relief.
Relief as constipation improves, eczema clears, sleep deepens, and resilience builds. Small shifts that make a profound difference in daily life and long-term health.
For families navigating persistent chronic health issues, those shifts arenโt small. They can be life-changing especially when they happen early.
Prevention can look unconventionalโฆ right up until it becomes standard of care.
And weโre here to support families with science, data, and care every step of the way.
Read the Wall Street Journal story here โ wsj.com/health/wellness/pareโฆ
Begin Health retweeted
HMOs (human milk oligosaccharides) are a sugar found in human breast milk that babies mostly canโt break down for energy.
Yet HMOs are the third most abundant solid component in human milk (after lactose and fat).
So, what are they doing there?
HMOs feed the babyโs future gut โsecurity teamโ by passing through the upper gut and reaching the colon where they feed the important beneficial bacteria such as bifidobacteria.
That means breast milk is actively shaping which microbes move in first โ and with them, the infant's gut and immune system.
HMOs do more than just support good bacteria. They work like decoys...
A lot of germs cause trouble by first sticking to receptors on the gut lining, the way a key fits into a lock. The bad actors grab onto the gut and "lock in" before they start their damage.
HMOs can mimic those structures, so some pathogens bind to the HMO instead of your babyโs actual cells. Itโs like tossing a bunch of fake keys to distract the pickpocket.
HMOs arenโt one ingredient.
Human milk can contain 200+ different HMO structures, and the blend changes over lactation and differs between moms because of genetics. Breast milk is an intelligent, dynamic, and personalized system that adapts as the baby grows.
Once you โgetโ HMOs, breastfeeding stops sounding like a "nice to have" and starts looking like a biological advantage during a vulnerable window. This is a critical period when babies are meeting the microbial world for the first time and their immune systems are in training mode.
Formula can absolutely nourish babies, and itโs essential and life-saving in a lot of real situations. Some formulas now add a small amount of HMOs. Thatโs a meaningful step forward, but itโs still not the same as the full, shifting HMO โlibraryโ in human milk.
Breast milk has been evolving alongside human infants for hundreds of thousands of years. HMOs are one small window into how sophisticated that system is and how much we're still learning.
If breastfeeding is an option that's safe and doable for you, it's worth serious consideration.
Begin Health retweeted
Big move by @PersephoneBio delivering a significant advancement to our understanding of the infant gut microbiome.
Regardless of birth mode and/or early feeding method @StephJCuller and team found that:
76% of babies in their U.S. study were deficient in the key gut microbe: Bifidobacterium.
25% of their infants lacked detectable Bifidobacterium at all.
Begin Health retweeted
Most parents wait until birth to start โparenting.โ
By then, itโs already late..
Your baby's gut, brain, and immune system are all programmed BEFORE delivery day.
If you want your child to thrive in the modern world, read this:
