Plain language summary
The gut microbiome develops in early life and is influenced by several different factors. Skin-to-skin contact (SSC), whereby an infant and mother have bare skin contact, has been shown to be associated with improved brain and heart development, decreased anxiety and stress, and longer breast-feeding duration. In animals, SSC has also been shown to alter the infants gut microbiota, but this has not been investigated in humans. This study of 116 infant-mother pairs aimed to determine the effect of SSC compared to normal care on the infant gut microbiome and the gut-brain connection. The results showed that there was an overall difference in microbiota diversity between SSC and normal care infants in early but not late infancy. The development of the gut microbiota was also affected in early and late infancy. In SSC infants there was a lower abundance of Faecalibacterium, Eubacterium hallii, and Rothia and higher abundance of Flavonifractor, Lacticaseibacillus, Bacteroides and Megasphaera compared to the normal care infants. Some gut-brain communication pathways differed between the two groups including those associated with anxiety and stress. It was concluded that SSC may influence gut microbiota development. This study could be used by healthcare professionals to understand that SSC can alter the infants gut microbiome, however further studies are required to determine the significance of this.
Abstract
The gut microbiota is vital for human body development and function. Its development in early life is influenced by various environmental factors. In this randomized controlled trial, the gut microbiota was obtained as a secondary outcome measure in a study on the effects of one hour of daily skin-to-skin contact (SSC) for five weeks in healthy full-term infants. Specifically, we studied the effects on alpha/beta diversity, volatility, microbiota maturation, and bacterial and gut-brain-axis-related functional abundances in microbiota assessed thrice in the first year. Pregnant Dutch women (n = 116) were randomly assigned to the SSC or care-as-usual groups. The SSC group participants engaged in one hour of daily SSC from birth to five weeks of age. Stool samples were collected at two, five, and 52 weeks and the V4 region was sequenced. We observed significant differences in the microbiota composition, bacterial abundances, and predicted functional pathways between the groups. The SSC group exhibited lower microbiota volatility during early infancy. Microbiota maturation was slower in the SSC group during the first year and our results suggested that breastfeeding duration may have partially mediated this relation. Our findings provide evidence that postpartum SSC may influence microbiota development. Replication is necessary to validate and generalize these results. Future studies should include direct stress measurements and extend microbiota sampling beyond the first year to investigate stress as a mechanism and research SSC's impact on long-term microbiota maturation trajectories.
Methodological quality
Jadad score
:
2
Allocation concealment
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No
