Over the past ten years, many parents have followed the 3-month nutritional program outlined in the “Biology of Behavior” CD set. There are many wonderful testimonies that we have received over the years from grateful parents who see their unhappy, unfocused, moody, touchy, sensitive , memory impaired child transform into a happy, cooperative, focused, mellow child. This, of course is not always the case. We wish it was. However, the far majority of parents who use this simple nutritional program see benefits. Some are dramatic, while others are just good. However, there are often questions that parents have. The following are some of the questions that I am frequently asked. If you can find a local nutritionist of integrative physician to work with it can also be helpful.

On the bottle of Primadophilus by Nature’s Way (and on almost all the other probiotics I looked at) it says that we need to take it only one time a day. Why do you so strongly recommend to take a capsule 3 times a day in your program?

The theory most prevalent is that it is the amount (often billions) of good bacteria that make the probiotic effective. However, what Dr. Leo Galland, and Dr. William Crook found in their clinical practice working with children who struggled with attention or behavior, is that the very best results were found when giving the probiotic 3 times a day. It was found that it is the amount of TIMES the good bacterial is planted into the gut, during the day that made the biggest difference, not the number of bacterial available. This has been a big breakthrough in the success of the BOB program. In my clinical practice, I have found this to be true over the past 15 years of working with over 2,500 children from across the United States.

As I speak across the country at conventions, parents will often tell me that they used the Primadphilus, or another probiotic, and saw no difference in their child’s behavior, attention, or memory. Upon further questioning I often find out that they did not give the probiotic 3 times a day. Either because the directions on the bottle, or the advice from the health food store operator dissuaded them from following the 3 times a day recommendation. Often the reason given, is because there are so many more “billions” of bacterial in the product. As stated before, it is not the amount of good bacterial that makes the biggest difference, but rather the frequency of ingestion throughout the day.

Another mistake that parents inadvertently make is to give the child a chewable form of Primadophilus or they give the liquid or powder form. In my 15 years of experience with this program I have found that the chewable form, even if given faithfully three times a day does not bring changes in behavior. The liquid has also not brought the results we are looking for. Even the powder, gives us very inconsistent results. So what to do if a child cannot swallow the capsules? It is very easy to open up the capsules and put it into a food three times a day. Parents often use applesauce, yogurt, peanut or almond butter, or if the child only eats about 5 foods, then even in a dab of chocolate frosting can be used.

My husband and I would like to follow the “Biology of Behavior” nutritional program also. Do we take the same amounts?

In our family, the adults and teenagers follow the same 3 month program when memory, distractibility or mood seems a little, “out of order.” We generally do not modify it. If necessary, if an antibiotic has been recently used, we may take 2-3 Primadophilus capsules 3 times a day. However, generally the one tablet of the grapefruitseed extract is fine, taken 3 times a day.

I have many children and a busy household.
I don’t know if I can get some supplements into my child 3 times a day.
Is just 2 times a day OK, too?

It is true that being able to “catch” a child 3 times a day to give a supplement takes some real effort on the mother’s part. Here are a few methods that other busy moms have employed:

  1. Make up snack baggies on Sunday night for the whole week. Keep these baggies in the refrigerator for quick retrieval. The lunch baggie can be taken out and put in the middle of the kitchen table, if the visibility will make it easier to take at lunch time. Even though it contains the Primadophilus, it can be out of the refrigerator for the time between breakfast and lunch, and still be OK. You do not have to give the Primadophilus on an empty stomach. My experience is that this is a very hardy bacteria. You can give it with meals, no problem. We don’t have to make this harder than it is!
  2. Put one of the “more responsible” children in charge of the reminding them when to take the supplements.
  3. Do the program with only one child first (the one struggling the most) for cost effectiveness and ease of administration.
  4. If a child does not swallow supplements, put them in some food they will eat, at the beginning of the week. For example, Primadophilus and Paramicrocidin (capsule tasteless Grapefruitseed Extract) can be opened and put into frosting dabs and stored on wax paper in the freezer or frig. The same works well with Liver capsules, if you have a child who will not eat meat.
  5. Even though it may seem that 2 times a day is better than 1, in reality it is exponentially more difficult to see the fast results we are looking for when doing only 2 times a day. So, for at least the first three weeks, try to do 3 times a day, and then do only 2 if that is all you can get in.

My child is going to camp for 2 weeks.
Shall I try to send the supplements with him?

What I do in those cases, is just suspend the supplement program for the length of time the child will be gone. You will just be wasting good supplements, and making the child feel guilty…or worse, “different.” This is not necessary.

How Do We Discontinue the Supplements? 

Let’s first recap how to start the program:

Start the Week 1 supplement, and then continue that. On the next week, add the Week 2 supplement, and continue that. Keep doing this until you have added all the supplements. Keep this program up for 3 months.

Discontinuing the program after 3 Months:

The first week of the 4th month, you’ll stop the Week 1 supplement, but keep the others up. The next week, you’ll stop the Week 2 supplement, but keep the others up. Do this until all supplements have been eliminated.

You can determine which ones you want to continue, and which ones you will discontinue by the response you saw in your child. Most parents find that they can get along without all of the individual vitamins, and juts give their child a good multi-vitamin along with a few supplements that worked best.