When to sample?

How long should I wait after antibiotics?

We recommend waiting 4-6 weeks from the last day of your course of antibiotics before sampling.

I was prescribed antibiotics, should I take my sample before I start or after I finish the course?

If you have a test kit available and you have not started antibiotics we highly recommend sampling before you start your antibiotics. This will allow us to get your baseline, and will help us track how the gut is recovering from antibiotics.

Is it safe to sample during a stomach bug?

You should not sample while sick unless you want to see what bug is causing the illness (which could also be interesting!).

However, if you want to see the normal gut state, we'd recommend waiting for 1 full week after symptoms are gone and your stool has returned to normal before collecting your sample.

When is the best time to sample during pregnancy?

The sooner the better! By testing early, we can determine if the mom has beneficial microbes that we want to see transferred to baby during birth. If mom is missing these beneficial microbes, testing early will give you more time to boost levels of the beneficial bacteria that we want to colonize the baby’s gut.

Additionally, our pregnancy test will include biomarkers for Gestational Diabetes, UTIs, and the vaginal health test will include a biomarker for Pre-term birth.

When is the best time to sample baby after birth?

We recommend sampling once your baby is 7 days old.

The 7-day sample is really important because it shows what the baby was seeded with at birth (if we have a mom sample too, we can show exactly what came from mom vs the hospital etc) and that gives us a signal on what foundational immune system the baby was born with.

Additionally, the younger the baby is, the more simple the gut is. It’s easier to course-correct gut imbalances at this young age.

When is the best time to sample mom after giving birth?

We recommend testing within the first six months, but as soon as possible if you are breastfeeding. If you're still breastfeeding, the test for mom will detect if you have the beneficial microbes that continue to transfer to your baby via breast milk, and specifically, we want to see if you have Bifidobacterium Infantis, Bifidobacterium Breve, Bifidobacterium Bifidum, and/or Bifidobacterium Longum, which should dominate your baby's gut in the first year, because they digest the HMOs in breastmilk most efficiently to protect their immune development.

Additionally, if both mom and baby are tested within the first six months our report will include a Seeding section, that tells you what microbes from the mom successfully colonized the baby’s gut during birth.

Why should I resample around 12 months?

We'd recommend resampling at 12 months because the evidence for food allergies and asthma risks from the microbiome is the strongest at around 12 months, and past this time point, the signals are usually gone.

🕛 Please note, if you have not already sampled, we do not recommend waiting until 12 months to take your first sample. It’s always best to test as soon as possible to give you more time to course-correct imbalances. In fact we recommend sampling 3-4 times per year during the first 1,000 days of life. 

My child is over 3, can they still test?

Absolutely! It’s never too late to make changes to optimize your gut microbiome which is why we believe it’s important for every family member to test, regardless of age.

How many times do I need to sample?

For babies under 1 year old, we recommend testing quarterly if it’s within your budget, but please refer to your Action Plan for more specific guidance. Adults and children may require fewer resamples throughout the year, as it can take longer to see your actions impact the gut.

Optimizing your gut microbiome is a journey and we like to think of this as a program to help you optimize and maintain. We try to keep our costs low to give our customers the ability to resample more frequently. However, we know that the cost still may be prohibitive. It’s always best to sample at least once, then resample after you’ve implemented the recommended actions if the budget allows.

When should I resample?

Follow the resampling guidelines in your Action Plan.