Prompt: List and describe potential factors that the mother or the infant could be exposed to that could influence the colonization of the microbial community in the newborn infant (in positive or negative ways).
Several factors influence infant colonization of the gut microbiome, and this is important because the gut microbiome plays a major role in infant development. There are different microbial colonization patterns that are associated with the development of an infant. Understanding microbial colonization patterns can assist in an infant’s neurocognitive development and their disease life course risk. Things that can affect these microbial colonization patterns are:
Surgical vs. Vaginal birth – Vaginal birth is important for the vertical transfer of vaginal-perianal microbes from the mother as the infant is delivered through the birth canal. These microbes may not be transferred through surgical birth.
Exposure to antibiotics – Can affect the trajectory of the microbial colonization diversity. It has been discovered that antibiotics exposure to infants in the first 1000 days also may play a role in the development of early-onset obesity and neurocognitive developmental delays.
Infant feeding patterns – Most important during the first year of life. The gut microbial profile differs widely in newborns that are breast-fed vs. those who are formula fed. Breast fed babies have been shown to have an abundance of the prebiotic Bifidobacterium. It has also been found that formula-fed babies have a more diverse flora, but diverse with the wrong abundance of bacteria. E.coli, staphylococcus, streptococcus, and Clostridium are often found in babies whoa are exclusively formula-fed.
Maternal effects on Infant Microbiome during the first 1000 days:
- Stress
- Infection
- Antibiotics exposure
- Obesity
- Feeding patterns
References:
- Yang I, Corwin EJ, Brennan PA, Jordan S, Murphy JR, Dunlop A. 2016. The Infant Microbiome. Nursing Research 65:76–88.
