Gut Health For Teens: What Parents Need to Know

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Have a teen struggling with stomach issues? Practicing better gut health for teens might be the answer. Sharing our journey today!

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If you have followed along from the beginning, you know that Branden hasn’t been as interested in appearing on the blog, or in photos as he has reached his teen years. And I respect that. However, right now I have a story to share, involving him, that we both thought was essential to raise awareness of.

You also know I have never shied away from a conversation about gut health. In fact, this has been a discussion at the forefront of this blog in recent years because it’s so important to me – no matter how unpleasant it might be to talk about. So today, Branden and I are sharing our story about gut health for teens and next month, after testing out Ameo Life’s Probiotics for 30 days, we’ll share our update.

Gut Health For Teens: What Parents Need to Know

Back-tracking a little bit, I have struggled with gut issues my whole life and really started to get to the root of the issue as an adult. My mom had me at every specialist as a kid and we still found eliminating my stomach problems a challenge. So whenever my kids complain about stomach aches, I’m especially sympathetic because I get how awful it really is – especially not wanting to be at school and constantly running to the bathroom.

In addition, since we took the kids out of school for a week for a vacation at the beginning of the school year, I’ve been paying extra attention to the amount of school they are missing. As Branden started really racking up days recently due to stomach issues, I know that getting to the root of the issue was imperative.

The first thing I did with him was start a food diary.

I’ve always noticed that you really don’t know what or how much food you are actually eating unless you write it all down. I wanted him to first start doing this to really understand not only what he was consuming, but when he was consuming it. Some questions I wanted him to ask himself:

Why am I making the choices I am?

Am I eating for energy? To nourish my body?

Am I eating enough? Or am I eating too little?

The point that I wanted to make with him as to be conscious of the food choices he was making so that his stomach wasn’t upset all the time.

Second, we have the probiotic talk.

Both of our kids are on children’s probiotics. Blake has a liquid she takes each day and Branden had a multi-vitamin probiotic mix. We quickly realized that what he was taking daily, just wasn’t meeting his needs. I immediately talked to my friends at Ameo Life and found out that at age 12 they say that kids can start taking their Patented Process Probiotics.

I take 2 daily in the morning and swear by them. Seriously. I went a few weeks without them over the holidays and noticed a HUGE difference, and it took a good 3 weeks to get my gut back in check, so I knew they would be the right choice for him.

They do come in pill form, and Branden can swallow pills. If you have a 12-year-old who wants to take them but hasn’t yet mastered swallowing pills, you can easily break them open and mix them into a smoothie.

What’s next?

Over the next thirty days, we will be having weekly check-ins and monitoring how Branden feels after adding the probiotics to his daily routine….stay tuned!

Looking for more info about gut health? You’ll love these:

I hope that our journey with gut health for our teen helps to guide you with your own. There is so much trial and error, but every day is a step closer to relief.

XOXO,

Allison