Group B Strep Handout and Info

Most people want to know about group B strep in pregnancy. What is it? What if I test positive? What are the risks? Teach the basics easily with the group b strep information sheet handout.

Answer questions about GBS with evidence! What does it mean? What are the risks of Group B strep? Since all pregnant people in the U.S. get tested, all of your clients want to know what’s going on. Here is the latest research (sources cited), risks, facts, and options for prevention if you want to test negative for GBS. It includes discussion of the transitory nature of the bacteria.

Try to reassure people who test positive and were hoping for a natural birth free of intervention. Hibiclens (chlorhexidine wash) is an option some places for GBS positive labors, but in the U.S. the vast majority of providers recommend or require antibiotics in labor. Remember that, baring compounding factors, there’s no reason you can’t have a hep-lock and be disconnected from the IV pole for most of the labor. The antibiotics only take 10-20 minutes to infuse and then you can be free to move around for hours before the next dose.

Of course, refusing the antibiotics is a choice as well.  The standard of care in Europe is not to test for GBS in pregnancy at all and only give antibiotics to people with risk factors for an infected baby.

If you want to get rid of the GBS in your birth canal, you can follow a generalized protocol for eliminating bad flora.

You want the good bacteria (such as the kind in yogurt) and don’t want the bad (such as group b strep).  Taking probiotics or eating foods that contain probiotics will increase the good and therefore help push out the bad. Lowering your consumption of sugar and processed foods (which the bad ones love) will help kill off these bad biotics. Anti-biotics will kill them all, and the bad ones are most likely to get a foothold straight away.

Tips for Getting Rid of GBS + Other Bad Flora

• Eat less sugar. Considerably less. Bad bacteria love them.

• Eat less white flour (it turns into sugar).

• Eat fermented foods. Especially ones you make yourself.

• Eat yogurt and kefir. Not Yoplait (see item one).

• Take a probiotic. A good one from the fridge section. I discovered these raw Garden of Life brand ones at Whole Foods, specially made to support good vaginal flora.

• No antibiotics in pregnancy or labor.

 

Share the statistics and risks and choices with your clients using the printable GBS handout for doulas, midwives, and birth educators.