What every parent should know about antibiotics

My husband and I have five young kids so saying that someone is sick is kinda like saying someone is hungry- it's just a reality of our life more often than not. In the last couple of years I have learned things about antibiotics that my pediatrician never told me, so I thought I'd share them with you.

1) Don't stop giving your children their meds regardless of how their feeling. For years we've been hearing that our bodies build up a resistance to antibiotics every time we take them so when my boys were little I thought it would be best to give them as little as possible. It turns out that some bacteria survives past the point the kids are feeling better and by stopping the antibiotic the remaining bacteria can become stronger and even mutate.

2) Antibiotics can mess with a kids digestive system because it kills good bacteria in the gut along with the bad. Lots of kids get diarrhea while on antibiotics for this reason.

3) Antibiotics can seriously impact a child's behavior because the gut is directly linked to their nervous system. Two of our kids really struggle with behavior issues while on antibiotics and actually well after they're done. I have seen this with a lot of kids, they become irritable, impulsive and hyper-active. 

4)For the same reason it can also effect a child's sleep. 

The good news? Often all of these can be addressed by giving your child a probiotics at the same time they are on antibiotics. Once they are done with their medication you may need to continue giving them probiotics until the symptoms subside. (Sidenote: there are probiotics in yogurt so if the symptoms are mild it may be effective, but typically kids need something stronger.) 

Also important to note: if your child has the opposite effect and seem to have serious behavior issues lessen while on antibiotics you may want to do some further research. PANDAS, for instance has been known to greatly improve while on antibiotics.