Microbiome Testing During Pregnancy: What Expecting Moms Need to Know

Microbiome testing while pregnant can offer new insights into how your gut health shifts during this important time. While it isn’t a diagnostic tool, it can help you and your healthcare team understand your gut microbiome composition and function, and how those patterns might relate to digestion, energy, immunity, and overall well-being during pregnancy. If you’re considering microbiome testing while pregnant, learn how it works, what benefits you might gain, the limits of what results can tell you, when to test, and how to talk through the findings with your provider. How it works in pregnancy typically involves collecting a stool sample and analyzing it to map bacterial abundances and their metabolic activities. Outputs can include a Gut Microbiome Health Index (a score from 0 to 100 indicating overall gut health), comparisons of the top 40 bacteria against a healthy cohort, and categorized functional pathways to show positive or negative trends. This is where InnerBuddies shines as a provider of a white-label Gut Health Operating System that powers many gut microbiome testing products. Its modular platform includes a Gut Microbiome Health Index, detailed bacteria abundances, and labeled bacterial functions, helping you see where you stand on each aspect relative to a healthy reference. With Target Group analysis, the system can drill into pathways relevant to specific life stages or goals, such as pregnancy-related nutrition and health, while Personalized nutrition advice uses your 3-day food diary data to tailor suggestions to your unique gut microbiome. It even offers Personalized probiotics and prebiotics recommendations aligned with your objectives. There are meaningful potential benefits to consider, such as more informed dietary choices, targeted probiotic ideas (in collaboration with your provider), and a clearer sense of how your gut health may be evolving across pregnancy. At the same time, there are limits to keep in mind: microbiome data can reflect associations rather than direct causes of symptoms or outcomes, and results require thoughtful interpretation in the context of clinical care and pregnancy. Factors like diet, medications, and timing can influence results, so any plan should be discussed with your obstetrician or midwife. The goal is to use testing as one tool in a broader prenatal care strategy, not a stand-alone diagnosis. When planning testing during pregnancy, timing matters. Some people choose preconception testing to establish a baseline, while others test in the first or second trimester to monitor changes as pregnancy progresses. If you decide to pursue microbiome testing while pregnant, prepare a list of questions for your provider about how results could influence nutrition, supplementation (including probiotics), and symptom management. To explore InnerBuddies’ consumer options, you can learn more on their product page: InnerBuddies microbiome test, or consider their dietary and subscription tools for ongoing gut health support at InnerBuddies Gut Health Membership. If you’re exploring partnerships or a white-label solution for your own products, check out their B2B program at Become a Partner.