Opinion: Pulling probiotics from NICUs can put preemies 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.
