Opinion: Pulling probiotics from NICUs can put preemies at risk of necrotizing enterocolitis
Probiotics are being removed from NICUs to protect preemies’ health. But it can put them at risk of necrotizing enterocolitis.
Maybe probiotics would have saved my son’s life. I’ll never know because when I asked Micah’s care team to consider probiotics to counter the deluge of antibiotics, I was dismissed as senseless.
My son Micah was born at 27 weeks gestation, weighing just over 2 pounds, with a head full of thick, wavy hair. By 6 weeks old, Micah weighed 5 pounds, was beginning to nurse, and was progressing toward discharge. Our lives changed forever one quiet Sunday afternoon when Micah’s health rapidly deteriorated, and he was diagnosed with necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC), a disease I had never heard of and knew nothing about. NEC is arguably the cruelest disease in the NICU and torments families years after their original diagnosis. Since Micah died, I have dedicated my life to building a world without NEC because his story is not unique. It could become even more common now that probiotics have been pulled from NICUs after recent FDA warnings.
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