The Link Between Your Baby's Gut and Brain Development

The Link Between Your Baby's Gut and Brain Development

Your baby gets his or her first "inoculation" of gut flora from your birth canal during childbirth. If your flora is abnormal, your baby's flora will also be abnormal; whatever organisms live in your vagina end up coating your baby's body and lining his or her intestinal tract.

Studies show that a growing number of women have unknown vaginal infections at childbirth, which can result in the passage of abnormal microflora onto their babies. This introduction of unfriendly flora, combined with antibiotic use, can predispose a baby. GAPS can have very damaging long-term effects on a child's health, such as:

• Autism
• ADHD/ADD and learning disabilities, such as dyslexia
• Mood disorders, such as depression and bipolar disorder
• Schizophrenia
• A number of other psychological, neurological, digestive, and immunological, problems

This has profound implications for the autism epidemic. Rates of childhood autism are staggering, now 50 times higher in some areas than three decades ago. Not surprisingly, there is a matching epidemic of GAPS.

Dr. Natasha Campbell-McBride is a neurologist and neurosurgeon who has devoted years of her career to studying this phenomenon, and how to treat and prevent it. She believes nearly all children are born with normal, healthy brains. However, this normal brain function gets derailed by a malfunctioning digestive system, turning what should be a source of nourishment for your child into a source of toxicity.