“Digestive Health” is the name of the product we take. The recommended dose is 2 capsules a day. It’s best to call the company and ask Chris (the one who always answers the phone) about dosage but here is what they have told me…It depends on the severity of your symptoms and there is really no such thing as overdose. They are organically plant based so therefore your body responds to them as a food. You can experiment to see how many pills a day you need.
With an infant you can give a half of a capsule before every feeding. If they need more you can give the other half after each feeding. But for some babies a total of just one pill a day might be enough. Chris has recommended starting with a fourth of a capsule a day and increasing slowly as needed due to possible temporary side effects. Read Side Effect of Probiotics and Enzymes. I would start with giving a fourth a pill in the morning for several days and then adding in a fourth a pill in the evening. If you notice no side bad side effects, then you can start adding in a fourth or half a pill a day until your baby is comfortable. It is best to spread them out throughout the day as much as possible. It is better to not give in a bottle with milk because the enzymes will mostly be used up to digest that one bottle instead of helping build up the system. Plus some say that they clog the nipple. But if that is the only way that it works to give it, it will still help. The better way to give it is to open the capsule, mix it with water, a little formula, or breastmilk and give it with a dropper. With an older child you can mix it with juice or a spoonful of food.
For an adult you can take one or 2 pills each time before you eat and one in between meals. It is best to space the pills out as much as possible. Taking some on an empty stomach will help build up the system faster. If you are treating upper GI problems it will relieve pain quicker to open the capsules, mix with a little water and let it slower run down your throat. This allows the probiotics to coat the throat and esophagus. For some people they will start feeling better within days or weeks but for some it can take up to 60-90 days to see results. Once a person starts feeling better they can taper off to one or 2 pills a day.
Your pancreas will start working better again so you can try stopping the pills but you may start slowly noticing symptoms coming back. As was stated earlier, our pancreas has a hard time making enough enzymes for our diets today.
One breastfeeding mom just told me that she was taking 3 pills a day without much results so she upped it to taking 6-8 pills a day. 2 with each meal and one with all snacks. THEN she started to see results!! 🙂
Another mom who’s baby is formula fed, said that she’s gotten awesome results from giving her baby 1/4 pill before each feeding. She opens the pill, mixes it with 1 tsp of water, then divided between 4 syringes (like these on Amazon). This makes it faster to administer and easier for taking with you in your diaper bag. This way is not necessarily recommended by the Core Health Products company because the enzymes are activated by nutrients and even water has nutrients. But this mom has found it to work very well!!
A mom with a toddler has found that 1/2 pill 3 times a day works wonders!
For school aged children, a pill at breakfast and supper seems to work well but for some it works better to have one with each meal.
Most adults will find one pill with each meal beneficial but some will add in one with each snack or 2 with each meal.
There is no “one dose fits all” because we are all made up differently and some of our bodies are doing a better job of making digestive on its own and our diets vary greatly among us.
Remember…. there is no rush to see how fast you can build up your dose. Stick with “low and slow”! Be patient, it can take weeks and sometime months to see results. But if you are not afraid of the side effects, you can certainly go with greater quantities at a faster pace. 🙂
I would love it if some of you moms that have tried the probiotics and enzymes would write on here how soon they took effect and how much you give a day.
………………………….
To learn more about the symptoms our children suffered from and what we found to help tremendously with their reflux and digestive problems, go to my Home Page!
Martha Koehn, wife to Russ and mom to Quinton, Jackson, Shiloh, and Branson
marthakoehn83@gmail.com
316-two one seven-4369
email, call, or text is great… but Voxer and WhatsApp are my preference 🙂
Help for Acid Reflux, Heartburn, GERD, Indigestion, IBS, Gastroparesis, and Many Other Digestive Issues 
Hi Martha,
I have a 20 month old son, who from birth has had MSPI. I can across your blog doing research on what can help his little body. After reading what you posted on the product “Digestive Health” , I have a few questions. One, how long did it take for your boys to be able to eat dairy and soy after consuming the pill? And 2, do you know of any other mothers out there with this specific problem who used this product and it worked? I believe what you have stated about the product, and have already ordered a bottle. The reason for the last question, is that I am very, very curious to know how many kids are affected by this, and where.
Thank you for your post, help, and the time you put into this blog.
Another MSPI momma,
Bethany
Hi Bethany, Thanks for asking your questions. Shan Stratton (owner of Core Health Products that sells Digestive Health) told me to wait to try any dairy on my children until they had been taking the Digestive Health for 60-90 days. I started slowly giving them small amounts of dairy at 60 days. I wish I would’ve kept a diary of how it all went but I don’t think I let them drink any straight milk until they had been taking the pills for around 3 or 4 months at least. I was petrified to let them try. But one evening before bed, Jackson said “I want some milk to drink”. I thought it was an odd request because the boys had NEVER had a drink of cow’s milk before. But I looked at my husband and asked “Should we try it?” And he said “We may as well”. So I very nervously filled a small glass and fearfully watched Jackson happily drink it. I think that I gave him 2 pills with it. I just KNEW he would wake up in the night with a belly ache. But MUCH to my surprise, he slept ALL night long without a peep. 🙂
I know that this might sound exaggerated but I think you will understand, even though before this point I had been very impressed at how the pills helped, I now felt as if there was new meaning in life! Because my boys were not used to drinking milk, it is still not something that they drink a lot of. Like, maybe a glass a week?
It has been a little over 2 years now that we’ve been taking the pills. I have done numerous trials to see how my boys do with more and less pills. For awhile I thought they were fine with taking one in the morning and one in the evening. But a week or 2 of that they started getting restless waking up at night from pain. What I have settled on now is that they take a pill with every meal and I also give them one with any cooked or processed snack. Several months ago when the boys wanted to drink some milk before going to bed, I told they could but to be sure to take a Digestive Health pill with it. I was busy and didn’t make sure though that they remembered the pill. I put the boys to bed, read them a story, and then sat in their room for several minutes with my laptop. Soon they both were asleep but in just a few minutes Quinton was tossing and turning. I watched him and wondered what was wrong. Then in his sleep he sat completely up in bed then laid down. I was very puzzled and concerned. Then it hit me that maybe he hadn’t taken a pill with his milk. I was surprised that even after taking those pills for 2 years, one glass of milk without a pill would cause him pain that bad and quickly. But I got him 2 pills and a glass of water, woke him up, and made him take them. Then I kept watching him. I could hardly believe it when in about one minute he quit tossing and turning, fell into a deep sleep, and slept fine the rest of the night. 🙂
One day last month the boys ate a skimpy breakfast and in about 30 minutes asked if they could have some yogurt. I said yes and thought that since they had had a Digestive Health not long before, they didn’t need another one. After they ate the yogurt (4oz container), they went out to do their chores. In about 5 minutes Quinton came in crying saying his stomach hurt. He laid on the floor and curled up holding his stomach. I ran to find the barf bucket as I thought he must have the flu that I heard was going around. But then Jackson in and said “I’m sick”. Well, how strange that they would both be struck with the flu within minutes of each other. Then it hit me…. I quickly gave them both a Digestive Health and within 10 minutes they went out again to do chores and never said a word about being sick again.
So, I now know that my children are very dependent on those enzymes. I have decided to view it like the diabetics views taking insulin. There are 2 parts to the pancreas and one part makes insulin and the other makes digestive enzymes. Some diabetic’s pancreases still make some insulin but not enough, and some don’t make any at all. I think it is the same with making the digestive enzymes. I don’t know if this is possible, but I wonder if my children’s pancreases just plain don’t make any digestive enzymes at all.
I also believe that the alkaline water that my children were (and still are) drinking may have played (and still is) a part in them being able to now tolerate dairy.
As you can see, probiotics and enzymes have not been a cure for my children but they have made a HUGE difference in all of our lives. There are still times that they get restless at night, and occasional get constipated, and every once in awhile they say their tummy hurts or “I’m sick”. Because that was a fact for so long, I am sometimes not sure when it is an excuse or for real. But as a general rule, a pill and good drink of alkaline water will take care these problems (well, the constipation can take more than that though).
Anyway, every child is different and each will be effected differently but MANY MANY children have been helped by using the Digestive Health. On my blog read the stories titled Federica’s story, Katie’s story, Lorraine’s story, and Micaela’s story. Those are a few that I have their stories and they have given my permission to put here. Also here is a story on a forum about a mom finding help for her little one. http://www.infantreflux.org/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=15293&PN=1.
Through the years with since Quinton was born, I been determined to try to help other mothers and babies as much as as I can. I felt like when babies were diagnosed as having colic, it wasn’t just colic. I believed that they either had acid reflux or a milk intolerance or both. And I was quite sure that quite a few babies were going undiagnosed. After I read the book titled “Colic Solved” written by a pediatric GI named Dr. Bryon Vartebedian, I was so impressed to find that indeed, he felt like I did… “colic” should not be a work that is used today!! I bought 8 of those books and gave them away and asked the people to pass them on.
Just a little over a year ago I had a short article about what we found to help our children, printed in a church magazine and was amazed at all the people that contacted me about it. So I decided to start searching for more places to find babies and moms. I went to the Internet. WOW was I ever in for a shock! I found that hundreds, no… many thousands of babies and children are suffering. Not only that, but some of these babies have reflux so bad that it makes them stop breathing and some babies wind up eventually having feeding tubes put in due to not eating and growing properly.
I joined several forums and finally decided to create a blog. But I’ve had to accept that there is not way I can reach all mothers out there and sometimes the ones I do reach are not willing to even try probiotics and enzymes on their child. I by no means though believe that probiotics and enzymes are a cure or even THE answer for all of these children. But I do believe that any child or adult that has any kind of digestive problems would most likely benefit in some way from them. I am sure that they will help some more than others.
MSPI children are everywhere! But many are not diagnosed! 😦
Feel free to ask more questions if you have them.
After reading this it seems possible that by taking these pills your boys body’s have become reliant on the pills instead of starting to make the enzymes on there own. I have a thyroid condition and after taking thyroid medication my thyroid became reliant and stopped producing any on its own. I know you believe strongly in this product but maybe just maybe the enzymes being provided are keeping there body’s from ever making them on their own.
Hi Kasey! I have others wonder too about children becoming reliant on the digestive enzymes. Here are my personal thoughts on it…. I have heard of and read about many children who start out like my children did (sometimes worse) and years later they still struggle with all sorts of digestive problems, food intolerances, still on meds etc. While it may be true that my children’s body’s aren’t making enough enzymes because they are taking a supplement of them… I wonder what my children would be like without them. Meds will only mask their problem and for my children only lessened the problem. Digestive enzymes don’t cure my children but as long as they take them, their problems are almost non existent.
Many adults in my family (and in my husband’s too) suffer a lot from digestive problems. I wonder if we have an inherited problem of our bodies simply not making enough digestive enzymes. If you know of something to actually make the body produce more, I would love to hear about it. I think there may be ways like by cutting out lots of, or all high protein foods, gluten, sugar, and dairy, but at this point I am not willing to do that. I have heard of nutrient supplements that might improve enzyme production but they are extensive and expensive but even these supplements contain probiotics and digestive enzymes. I personally believe that unless a person eats a diet of mostly raw foods, then they can benefit from taking digestive enzymes.
When taking digestive enzyme supplements, there are plant based ones and animal based ones. Animal based ones mimic the ones our bodies produce. And can make it so our own pancreas (which is where digestive enzymes are produced) will slow down or stop making enzymes. Plant based enzymes work differently. Our body views them as a food and so thus should not make the body produce any less. The ones we take are plant based.
Dear Martha mom,
Thanks for sharing your thoughts and experience with us. It was helpful in everyway.
I am curious to know if your Children still continues to take probitoics and enzyme supplements?
Still they get sick when they feed on Milk?
The detailed reply you wrote was in Feb 2013 and 2014. Do they still continue to take the digestive health in 2016?
I have just got the tablet and my lil daughter is taking it. I see improvement in her sleep which was worst for many months..
Please answer my questions.
Kind regards,
Aswini
Hi Aswini,
So sorry I haven’t replied sooner. Somehow your comment got lost in my emails. Yes, my children still take Digestive Health. They do best when they take one with each meal but it often winds up being just one with breakfast and one with supper. If they forget to take them or we are at someone else’s house for a meal and they don’t take them, the younger two rarely complain of any problems. But my oldest will start having some reflux and sometimes his throat will hurt. They do not avoid any food though. I am glad your little girl is sleeping better!!
hi.My name is Rebeca and my 6 month old baby has acid reflux and he is most of the time constipated. He has really hard time since he was born,Do you think is ok to give him enzymes?I already give him Garden of life probiotic.I would like to try your probiotic though. Do you think is it ok for his age?
Thank you a lot
I don’t normally recommend giving Digestive Health to a baby under a month old. But I know of numerous moms who have started Digestive Health right around the age of one month and their baby did fine with it.
Also, look into Nat Phos 6x for reflux problems. It is a homeopathic remedy.
Thank-you for sharing your story, My 2 month old has been having terrible crying fits and I have difficulty getting him to sleep. I suspected that he had digestive issues after we both were given heavy doses of antibiotics during labor and delivery due to a bacterial infection on my placenta. I had given him probiotics as soon as he was born but they needed to be refrigerated and I’m guessing the quality was not good because I had not noticed any improvement with his crying and he was not sleeping the recommended amount of time required for newborns. We later struggled with constipation issues but after lots of praying and contacting my naturopathic doctor we found relief after he sent medications. Since then, I have noticed my baby does not cry as much but he still struggles to just sit and be content and will typically end up crying after a feed or a dirty diaper change or within minutes of waking.
I personally have been taking digestive enzymes for the past several years and have found great relief from them, so I suspect that my baby will too. I recently researched digestive enzyme relief for infants and this is when I came across your blog! I just ordered core health and am hopeful this will help my baby and me get better rest! Thank-you again for sharing your story 🙂