In general, probiotic supplement quality can be variable. Some standardized and well-studied formulations can be essential for scenarios such as avoiding antibiotic-associated diarrhea. Other products have mixed efficacy at best.
If you have a breastfed baby who has lots of watery stools and/or gas/stomach upset, the first step is to evaluate whether you have hyperlactation (overproduction of milk). If not, consider whether the baby appears to have gas — but really just doesn’t want to be put down and is happy to be held.
Infant probiotics may help formula-fed babies (who don’t receive any natural probiotics in cow’s milk) with gas and/or constipation or diarrhea. However, there is no reason to give an exclusively breastfed baby probiotics – they are already getting hundreds of millions of good bacteria in mom’s milk naturally. Save your money!
