Breastmilk Feeding Practices Are Associated With the Co-Occurrence of Bacteria in Mothers’ Milk and the Infant Gut: The Child Cohort Study Publisher Pubmed



Fehr K^{1, 2} ; Moossavi S^{1, 3, 4} ; Sbihi H⁵ ; Boutin RCT^{6, 7} ; Bode L⁸ ; Robertson B⁸ ; Yonemitsu C⁸ ; Field CJ⁹ ; Becker AB^{1, 2, 4} ; Mandhane PJ¹⁰ ; Sears MR¹¹ ; Khafipour E¹² ; Moraes TJ¹³ ; Subbarao P^{13, 14} Show All Authors
Source: Cell Host and Microbe Published:2020

Abstract

Fehr et al. analyze infant gut microbiota in the CHILD cohort and identify associations with breastmilk feeding practices (exclusivity, duration, and pumping) and breastmilk microbiota. Within mother-infant dyads, co-occurrence of bacteria in breastmilk and stool suggests bacteria in breastmilk may transfer to the infant and influence the developing gut microbiota. © 2020 Elsevier Inc.; Gut microbiota play a critical role in infant health. It is now accepted that breastmilk contains live bacteria from endogenous and exogenous sources, but it remains unclear whether these bacteria transfer to the infant gut and whether this process is influenced by breastmilk feeding practices. Here, we show that certain bacteria, including Streptococcus spp. and Veillonella dispar, co-occur in mothers’ milk and their infants’ stool, and co-occurrence is reduced when infants receive pumped breastmilk. The relative abundances of commonly shared species are positively correlated between breastmilk and stool. Overall, gut microbiota composition is strongly associated with breastfeeding exclusivity and duration but not breastmilk feeding mode (nursing versus pumping). Moreover, breastmilk bacteria contributed to overall gut microbiota variation to a similar extent as other modifiers of the infant microbiome, such as birth mode. These results provide evidence that breastmilk may transfer bacteria to the infant gut and influence microbiota development. © 2020 Elsevier Inc.