Hello gals! Sorry that I have been absent the last several weeks, but it has been nice to put aside my computer and enjoy serious family time. We are now settled in my parents’ house and awaiting the arrival of baby cuatro! I should post a picture of my belly… remind me to do that before the baby arrives!
Now… let’s talk about GBS (Group B Strep).
Have you been tested positive for Group B Strep? Have you been told the dangers of GBS and scared into getting antibiotics when you really don’t want them?
The whole Group B Strep business is highly controversial and confusing, but I want to put in my thoughts and hopefully help you make the best decision for you & your baby.
Please remember, as you read through this post, that I am not a doctor… just a pregnant mama sharing from personal experience of being tested positive at one time for GBS and chose the alternative route.
What Causes Group B Strep?
All of us naturally have GBS in our intestines whether we are pregnant or not. It is just a matter of keeping it under control with good gut bacteria… like everything else in the gut system.
The problems arises when GBS multiplies (colonizes) during pregnancy to the point that it becomes a danger to your health and possibly your babies health.
One of the sure signs that you might test positive for GBS is if you had one or more yeast infections before or during pregnancy. That shows that your good gut bacteria is getting out numbered. It also means you need to take steps to “starve” out the bad bacteria, which means taking out the sugar & refined foods (Yeast & bacteria thrive on them!) as much as possible and increasing probiotic intake.
If you decide to get the test done… which doctors (and some midwives) normally do around weeks 35-37. The earlier, the better so you can take action to take care of the GBS if you are tested positive. Make sure you know when you will take the test so you are fully prepared!
If you do test positive, be prepared that your doctor (or midwife) most likely demand that you be on antibiotics while in labor. This is where you need to be prepared to make an informed decision with your husband/partner if you will take the antibiotics or not. If you choose not to go that route, be ready to stand strong because they won’t like it. You have rights to refuse it.
The Risks of Antibiotics
More of us know that antibiotics kill all bacteria (good & bad) in our system and will most likely do the same in your baby.
When given antibiotics for any reason during labor, the chances of your baby developing thrush (yeast infection) is greater and because the good bacteria gets killed… you will not have a defense system working in your favor to protect you from all the germs, bacteria & viruses you will be exposed to if you are having a hospital birth. Antibiotics are creating problems of “super bugs” which are highly resistant to normal antibiotics. One intervention can lead to potentially more need for intervention and take away your ability to bond with your child during the first week of life!
“It’s well known that the percentage of babies who actually benefit from intrapartum antibiotics is very small. And, increasingly, the routine use of chemoprophylaxis (antibiotics) during labor is causing problems with resistant GBS or resistant e. coli.” (Source)
Steps to Prevent GBS
Here are some steps you can take to lower your chances of being tested positive (if you decide to be tested).
- Throughout your pregnancy eat lots of fermented food like yogurt, kefir and homemade sauerkraut, to name a few.
- Eat the superfoods throughout your pregnancy.
- Take your supplements, especially raw apple cider vinegar, daily.
- Avoid all antibiotics before and during pregnancy.
- Take food-based Vitamin C (New Chapter is my favorite!)
- A week or two before the test, double your probiotic intake (pills, plain yogurt, fermented foods, etc.) and rub coconut oil in and around your vaginal area every night before bed.
- Insert a raw garlic clove vaginally, every night, for a week or two before the test day. Click here for more instructions (or read below how I did it).
- Wear 100% cotton underwear.
- Shower and wash your vaginal area right before you go in for your appointment.
- If you have a say (which you should, in my opinion!), tell them to only swab the vaginal area. Some swab both the vaginal & rectal area. Which is really unnecessary because the baby is born vaginally.
- Eat several spoonfuls of coconut oil everyday.
- Swallow a raw garlic clove coated with raw honey twice a day with food.
- Optional 1: Soak a tampon with coconut oil or olive oil and a few drops of Tea Tree essential oil, insert it in for 4 hours each day for 7 days.
- Optional 2: Rub plain yogurt or kefir in & around your vaginal area to build up good bacteria.
- Pray for healing and belief that you & the baby are in God’s hands!
My Story
I tested positive for GBS when I was pregnant with my 2nd, BUT I was tested at 2 months pregnant (which is NOT normal). I was VERY surprised by the test and felt that it was possibly a bad test because of two things… 1) she swab both my vaginal area and rectum. 2) I had no history of yeast infections or gut problems. Plus, the doctor didn’t give me any heads up… she just decided to do it in the last minute because I was moving out of the country!
For more information:
Gentlebirth.org – GBS
Understanding GBS
Treat GBS: Are Antibiotics Necessary?
How to Treat a Vaginal Infection With a Clove of Garlic
Herbal Treatments for Group B Strep
Group B Strep in Pregnancy: Evidence for Antibiotics and Alternatives
Love this! I am sure so many women will be helped by this.
Thanks Adrienne! I hope so too!
I used a birthing center and their five midwives with the birth of our daughter. The midwives suggested taking the pro-biotics and eating lots of fermented foods the month before the test. I think we tested in week 30 or so.
She also suggested the rectal swab which was good because when I started to pushing a little poo did come out. This is a fairly common. I’m debating whether to leave that part about poo in there. Well, I’m going to. Not talking about it won’t make it not happen.
Hello Foy! Thank you for sharing your experience. Yeah, not talking about the poo doesn’t mean it doesn’t happen! LOL!!
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Thank you!
How much kefir would you reccomend I drink per day? Is plain yogurt still beneficial if I mix it with fruit in a smoothie? Its the only way I’ve been able to have it since I got pregnant.
Hello CTorres,
As much as you can tolerate! If the kefir or yogurt is store-bought, make sure there is no sugar. Yes, you can still get the benefits drinking your kefir or yogurt in a smoothie with fruit. When I was pregnant with my 2nd, 3rd and 4th babies… I drank a large kefir smoothie almost everyday. Really, you can’t have too much kefir or yogurt! 🙂
Hi
I’m very upset I tested positive and all of the things said about gbs births (stillbirth,seizures, limpness, etc)
Has me devastated
I’m 36w &6days
Im goin to try the remedy n pray it works I’m due Feb 16th
So plz pray for my baby n if u want an update u can email me jlin1214@gmail.com
Hi there, I understand what you are going through and feeling. I will keep you in my prayers!
I really encourage you NOT to worry or stress. Don’t even think about it. Do the remedies and pray for the Lord’s strength to protect your baby.
Did you find out how high the counts were? Be sure to double your intake of probiotics and everything else. Trust the Lord to bring healing and strength for you and the baby!
Let me pray now… Lord, please put your hand of peace and healing over this gal. Give her strength to believe and trust in You. Bring people alongside her to encourage and pray over her. Lord, I know you already have her and her baby in your hands and taking care of this situation. Thank you Lord! Amen.
I’ve read and re-read this blog post of yours several times as I struggle with our own decision. I was GBS+ at 36 weeks, 37 weeks, and again at 38 weeks, despite the arsenal of things I added to my already healthy whole foods diet when I first found out.
This is my third, and I tested neg. with my first two babies. So this + test is really throwing me for a loop.
Unfortunately, the test my OB’s office uses now doesn’t give a scale for the GBS counts. It’s just a pass/fail test. SO….I don’t even have a way of knowing whether my efforts have improved my counts. Ugh.
I’m struggling every day with wanting to make the best decision for my little girl but not knowing exactly what the best choice is. I’ve cried out to God, and he’s reassured me that I am not alone. He’s with me all the way. I just keep praying to hear his leading clearly on this issue.
I’m also due this Sunday, February 16, and I’d love it if you’d pray for me!
Hello Jennifer, I understand your struggle and will be praying for you! I just emailed you.
This is fascinating to me. I tested positive for gbh with my first 3. We’re about 5wks with #4 and I really don’t want a repeat. However, some of the diet recommendations are a no-go. I get terrible hyperemesis gravidarum; cracked ribs & all. The thought of most meats when I’m pregnant is enough to make me start throwing up. I can’t tolerate foods that are normally no problem. Swallowing pills makes me throw up too. Any ideas? Can I buy bone broths? Boiling & cooking meat causes problems for me too. I just started dabbling in essential oils, and so far, they don’t bother me. Any ideas?
Hello Emily, can you tolerate smoothies? You can hide coconut oil in smoothies with kefir or yogurt along with probiotics to get it all down. What CAN you eat that won’t bother you?
What about tea? My Happy Belly tea is good, but you could add some other herbs to maybe help.
With bone broths, yes you can buy them, but they are not the same quality has homemade broth. Plus, they usually have too much salt in them.
You could mix together some lavender and tea tree essential oils with coconut oil or olive oil and rub it inside daily… like what I shared in my post.
Ideally, you need to take the stuff recommended in the above post for it to be affective. Simply rubbing something on and drinking store-bought broth will not, in my opinion, be effective enough. It is VITAL to be taking LOTS of probiotics of some form… pills, lacto-fermented foods, lacto-fermented drinks, etc…
Another thing you should think about is getting magnesium lotion to help with your food intolerate.
Hope this helps!
Thank you so much for writing this! I’m 371/2 weeks and just got my GBS test back and it’s positive. 🙁 Honestly, more than anything else I appreciate the encouragement to NOT worry and instead bring it to God. 🙂
My pleasure! I prayed for you.
I was wondering if you could help me understand the tea tree oil part a bit. I am following your regimen and have been for the past week. But I have also been obsessively reading on this trying to convince myself that I am not hurting my baby by declining antibiotics. My husband and I have read enough to know the long term effects of the antibiotics are far worse. My sisters baby died 6 years ago from a simple cold that it caught in the hospital and the doctors were very apologetic because they said the antibiotics had killed her good bacteria and stunted her immune system enough that something so small killed her baby in only a few days of showing the signs of a cold…… my actual question is this: tea tree oil can be extremely toxic. So much so that one drop ingested by a cat can kill it. Can it cause damage or cause a still birth to a fetus inside if you are putting the tea tree oil up in the vagina? I have had no problems so far but just thought I would ask if you have heard of anything like that. Thanks so much.
Hello Iiana, Sorry for the delay in responding… my family and I are traveling in the states right now. I understand your concern and respect your desire to be cautious. How do you feel and how does your baby feel to you? Has anything happen to you or your baby to cause concern? If everything feels good then I wouldn’t worry.
I want to assure you that the tea tree essential oil is safe and I personally know other mamas who have used tea tree with no effect to their babies (myself including). Keep in mind, that essential oils should be treated like medicine. You don’t take antibiotics whenever you fee like it right? That should be the same for essential oils as they are very powerful and should only be used when needed.
Are you are diluting the tea tree with coconut oil or olive oil? If you have already been doing it for a week… you shouldn’t need to do that anymore now, but continue on with the other remedies. Be sure to take LOTS of probiotics and keep sugar out of your diet. Also, it would be a good idea to keep putting plain coconut oil up the vagina too.
As for tea tree being toxic for cats… that is true, but you must understand that cats have a different system then humans do. There are a lot of things we consume that are toxic to some animals. Such as garlic and potatoes and tomatoes… they are toxic for dogs and cats.
I hope this was helpful and praying that you have a smooth pregnancy and birth!
I just want to add the other side. Our family adopted a beautiful little girl who was abandoned at the hospital. Unfortunately she was infected with GBS and died a horrible death after 6 weeks. We learned later that the mom had given birth previously to a GBS infected child that hd also died.
Please don’t think that your health care person is jut trying to scare you… sometimes terribly sad things do happen.
I am so sorry for your loss! Did the mother take antibiotics for GBS? I would think so if she had a previous birth infected with with GBS. Also, do you have any information on the mother’s background? What her diet was like? Her lifestyle? These all play a huge part on the baby and the chances of survival against GBS.
Again, I am sorry for your loss and pray that you will find healing through it.
It’s fine to give advice based on experience but people should be cautioned that this is not science and there is really no solid evidence to suggest any of this works or is safe based on a few outcomes. People seem to have a very difficult time understanding probability. We look at two or three experiences and conclude that there is a trend based on their outcome. In the case of GBS, even with a positive test and no treatment, there is only a 1 in 400 chance of adverse effect for the baby. So you can have 1, 3, or even 300 healthy babies with a GBS infection and it doesn’t demonstrate anything. If you were never retested after your self-treatment, there is no way of knowing whether it actually worked or you were just one of the 399 out of 400 women who have a healthy birth with GBS. Even antibiotics are not a miracle cure, they reduce the odds to 1 in 8000. So yeah, there is a very high probability that whether you do nothing or engage in a self-treatment that may or may not be effective, you’ll still have a good outcome. However, with millions of women giving birth every year, some are going to be that 400th woman who aren’t lucky. I think it’s fine if people want to try alternative methods but, if you do, you should get re-tested and then make a decision based on the results. Just trying this and hoping it works is crazy.
thank you for your thoughtful comment! I, too, agree with you to get re-tested even though I don’t say that in my post. It is a decision for each individual and what they feel is best for them.
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Such interesting comments. My experience with my 2nd birth and GBS wasn’t ideal. I actually did all of the above including a very healthy diet throughout the pregnancy as I was tested positive at 12 weeks. but still tested positve at 36 weeks – a stronger GBS reading than before. Along with Obstetric Cholestasis I was induced at 38 weeks.The doctors overode my decision not to have antibiotics in labour and pressured me in the 2nd stage of labour – yes 2nd stage- and put an intravenous drip in my hand. This was for 30minutes before she was born. I thought you had to have antibiotics for 4 hours for it to make a difference to the baby. So what happens to those women in very fast labour??
I am happy to say I have a healthy strong robust baby full of love and vitality but she does have a compromised immune system and suffers from colic and recurring croup. Could this be due to the antibiotics? who knows? she has had no other intervention – no vit k injection and no vaccines.
Anyway I count myself very lucky to have the beautiful family I have
Hello Emily!
Your experience sounds very interesting. Tank you for sharing it with us. Do wish you were able to avoid the antibiotics? I do believe your baby’s compromised immune system is the results of antibiotics wiping out the bacterial protection that she needed to keep her immune system strong. Are you giving her probiotics? Are you breastfeeding her? If yes, you should take probiotics as well so that she gets it through your milk.
Yes, you are blessed to have your family!! So glad you both came out of it alright for the most part.
Hi Marilyn, I am 37 weeks pregnant and just found out today that I am GBS+. :’-((. I was really hoping to test negative because I follow a very healthy whole foods diet, full of fermented foods, such as miso, kombucha, sauerkraut, kim chi, natto, and my prenatal contains probiotics. I also make my own chicken bone broth and I eat lots of green food. I eat very little processed food or foods with added sugar, maybe once or twice a month I may indulge in “crap” food as I like to call it. This has been my diet for the past couple of years and I have been even better since I have been pregnant. So it was very disappointing that it came back GBS+. I am completely against taking antibiotics; I have been for years, and I especially do not want my first baby to start his life with a compromised immune system due to antibiotics. I feel that the research could be much better because we should be tracking what pregnant women consume and how their babies turn out. I feel diet is a huge factor, but the medical community doesn’t want to admit that nutrition affects everything. Same goes for Vitamin K. I think it is silly to think that all babies are deficient and that they aren’t receiving any from the mother. I believe if a mother’s diet is nutrient dense from whole foods, then the baby will have everything it needs to be healthy and disease free when it comes into this world. Sorry, I am getting off topic….
I am giving birth at a free standing birth center and they know I am refusing the antibiotics, but it seems that if my water breaks I won’t have a choice but to take them.
Do you agree that if my water breaks that I should take the antibiotics?
And is there a time limit after my water breaks before they have to give me the antibiotics?
I really really really do not want to take them and its upsetting me. I believe in the power of the human body and think that even if my baby boy were to be colonized, I think that he would remain healthy because I have followed such a healthy diet and I have set him up to have a healthy immune system.
My other question is, when you say to avoid sugar, does that mean whole fruits as well? Or just refined processed sugar?
I appreciate any help and feedback. I have been reading about GBS for a few weeks and I feel like I have enough information to lead me to believe that antibiotics are unnecessary whether or not a pregnant women is positive or negative. I’ve also read that the US is one of the very few countries that tests for GBS, which makes me think this is just another way for the medical industry to put fear into expecting moms and to make another dollar from unsuspecting people. I just don’t know what to do.
Hello Kendra,
I am so sorry to reply a month later. My family and I were taking a sabbatical. How did your birth go? Were you able to refused antibiotics? How’s your baby boy? It sounds to me that you did your research and moved forward with what you knew. I would really like to know how it all went. Again, I am sorry for not being able to reply sooner.
I am sure you won’t post this comment, as there only seems to be postings that agree with your recommendations. I am sure that the thousands of women who have babies with advanced GBS disease disagree that they should leave the situation “up to God.”
Is GBS a pain? Absolutely. It sucks to need antibiotics during labor. Is it the end of the world? Absolutely not.
I am currently on GBS Pregnancy #3. In hind site, I received antibiotics during labor twice and my children are rarely sick, breastfed beautifully, and have healthy appetites. Looking at this two beautiful children, I disagree with you about refusing antibiotics. Healthy, happy, LIVING children certainly beats a dead baby.
Hello Kari,
Actually, you are the first person to comment here that doesn’t agree with what I wrote.
First, I would like to say that I am glad your children are healthy and well! It was your choice to use antibiotics and it seems that you made, in your mind, an informed choice. Second, if you go back and read the beginning of my post I wrote, “I want to put in my thoughts and hopefully help you make the best decision for you & your baby.” My helping was simply to share my personal experience with GBS, what I learned about it and what I chose to do. And if you go down to the end of my post, you will also see “Whatever you and your husband decide to do…” meaning that it’s their choice to take antibiotics or not. My goal in this post is not to leave the situation “up to God”, but to encourage them to make an informed decision and to have peace with the decision that they make. Every woman is different and not every GBS positive birth results a dead baby. I respect your choice to use antibiotics and hope you will extend respect to those who chose not to.
Thank you for your honest comment and blessings to you & your kids!
Hello Marillyn! This is the first time I have ever replied to a blog and I see I have missed the conversation by a year! But I still thought I would try to get your opinion on our situation. I am 39 and 3 days prego with muffin #5. I have never tested positive for GBS with the prev 4 delivers. I have never had a (vaginal ) yeast infection in my life. I REALLY don’t want to do the antibiotics route…but I want baby to be safe…do you think it is too late to try the above recommendations?! I’m so bummed.
Hi Sarah, I don’t think you are ever too late. Up your probiotics and use the recommendations I listed. You shared that you are 3 days pregnant? That’s very early to be getting the GBS test. You have time to do this and get a retest. Hope this helps! And forgive me for not replying sooner.
Hello, wow, what a powerful story. Thanks so much. And thanks to all those who shared. Just wanted to say that I got the note from my midwife that I need to be tested, and I really don’t want to be tested. I Don’t want the stress. I really try to eat the healthy foods that I can tolerate and eat and I haven’t been doing it daily due to other difficulties but I will try.
Love the fact that your homebirth was the best and I want to second that with my 3 girls, first 2 were not homebirth and the 3rd was, and it was by far the best birth ever and best choice.
Thanks again for sharing, love reading all.
Praying for an easy birth and healthy baby this time.
Hello! I hope everything went smoothly with your homebirth! Glad to share and bring some reassurance!
I did not get tested for Group B Strep with my last 3 pregnancies even though I was tested “postive” in the early stages of my 2nd pregnancy. I did not do a follow up later in my pregnancy and had zero complications, but I was VERY proactive to do all the things I shared in this post! Plus, my midwife was not concern and I was confident that all would be fine.
I just love your blog sister! Had I read this
I would not have been induced bc of this Strep B. May the Lord bless you richly