This week we learned about how babies can be affected through pregnancy and early infancy because of different factors that go into affecting the microbiome in not only the mother but the infant as well. I think there are a lot of different factors that the mother or the infant could be exposed to that could influence colonization of the microbial community in the newborn infant. I was thinking that a lot of the microbiome is influenced by the environment in which the newborn and mother are exposed to. For instance if the mother is infected with genital herpes that can be passed onto the child and cause the child to harbor microbes that cause HPV even if symptoms do not appear all the time. I think another way that the colonization of the microbiome could be influenced is through contact with those who are sick which may make colonization of more harmful microbes which can cause problems. In addition, I think that they can also be influenced by the microbes from healthy individuals as well because of close contact. I think that owning an animal could also influence the microbes that colonize an infant because they have different microbes that could transfer from the animals to the infant.
While I think the environment has a lot to do with the nutrition of not only the infant but also the mother as well. If the baby is breastfed then the microbes that are in the mother can transfer to the child through the breast-milk. I would also think that the breast-milk would be influenced by the mothers nutrition because different nutritional states influence the microbes that take up residence in the gut. Different diets can influence the microbes that are housed in the gut and those diets can influence for better or for worse. This also means that colonization can be affected by an infant being formula fed as that way they are not getting the microbiome of their mothers from the breast-milk.
I would also think that if the mother became infected with something like chicken pox either during birth or when the newborn is relatively young that they could pass on the microbes that caused the disease. If the mother was in close contact with the newborn and infected with the virus that causes chickenpox it could influence the microbiome that the newborn has because it might let other microbes take hold that could be pathogenic.
I think that the newborns microbiome is heavily influenced by the environment and things they come into contact with because their immune system has not fully developed which means they could be a lot more susceptible to microbiome changes than adults whose immune system is functioning (in healthy people).
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