As we have previously learned, our gut microbiomes can be incredibly diverse and have a significant impact on human health. However, as infants there are some factors that may affect our microbiota that we likely do not realize
Some of the more obvious ways our infant microbiomes can be affected is through diet and antibiotic use. As a baby, one of the most heavily consumed items is milk. Interestingly, the microbiota depends on whether the baby is fed with breast milk or formula milk. Breast milk contains certain probiotics not present in formula milk and thus enhance the growth of healthy bacteria.
Diet during the first couple of years is especially important in characterizing the microbiota as the baby is most sterile when born and in the next few years its gut microbial communities will develop to be what they will be as the infant grows to be an adult. For antibiotic use, something that is interesting is that if a mother took antibiotics during the pregnancy, this could impact the antibiotic interventions during childbirth.
Another notable way which could influence the colonization of the microbial community is the mode of delivery. Whether the baby is delivered through vaginal birth or a C-section affects the first exposure to a microbial community. If the baby is born vaginally, they will adopt a microbiota similar to the mother’s vaginal microbiota, but through a C-section will result in the infant having a microbiota more similar to the skin microbiota.
